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CELEBRATION

OF THE

Two Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary

OF

THE INCORPORATION

OF

CONCORD,

September 12, 1885

-^Sl635-^85- M*&~

^ONCORD, MASS.:
PUBLISHED BY THE TOWN

PRINTED AT "THE CONCORD TRANSCRIPT" OFFICE.

PREFACE

For the report of the proceedings, made stenographically,
the Committee are indebted to Mr. Frank A. Nichols, the edi
tor of the Concord Transcript, who devoted an entire number
of that paper to an account of the celebration. The oration was
printed in a Supplement, and with the speeches and description,
occupied thirty columns of the Transcript of Sept. 19th, 1885.
This work of Mr. Nichols, was, through his kind permission,
largely used in the preparation of this volume, and without it
there would have been great difficulty in obtaining a full report
of the speeches.

J

Att the Oenall Court holden att Newe Town,
Sept. 2, 1635. It is ordered that there shalbe a
plantacon att Mu.skelequ.iel, & that there shalbe 6
myles of land square to belong lo it, & that the in-
habitemts thereof shall have three yeares imunities
from all publ charges except traiheings; Further
that when any that plant there shall have occacon
of carry eing of goods thither, they shall repaire
to two of the nexte mgistrates where the teames
are, whoe shall have power for a yeare to press?.
draughts att reasonable rates, to be payde by the
owners of the goods, to transport their goods
thither att seasonable tymes ; & the name of the
place is changed, & hereafter to be called
CONCORD.

~\

CONCORD

At the annual town meeting in 1885, under a proper
article in the -warrant, voted "that fifteen hundred dollars be
raised and appropriated for the purpose of celebrating the two
hundred ancl fiftieth anniversary of the town, and erecting
tablets or monuments to mark places and objects of historic
interest," and chose the following persons a committee of ar
rangements to carry out the vote and expend the money above
granted. Henry J. Hosmeb,
Samuel Hoar, Stephen G. Brooks,
John S. Keyes,
Grindall Reynolds, John L. Gilmore,
Richard V. Babrett,
George P. How, Edwin S. Barrett,
William Wheeler,
Alfred B. C. Damn, Charles E. Brown,
Edward C. Damon,
John H. Moore, William H. Hunt,
George H. Wright,
John F. Hosmer, George E. Walcott,
George Heywood, Jr. '
James B. Wood, George M. Brooks,
George Heywood,
Edward W. Emerson, Charles H. Walcott,
Arthur G. Fuller.
This committee organized by the choice of Henry J. Hos
mer Chairman, Richard F. Barrett Secretary, and Charles
E. Bhown Treasurer. It filled the vacancies occasioned by the
death of George P. How and the resignations of George Hey
wood and John H. MooRE'by the choice of Nathan B. Stow
Humphrey H. Buttrick and Edward J. Bartlett.

6 CONCORD CELEBRATION.
The work was divided among sub-committees as follows :
Tablets :
Charles H. Walcott,
Edward W. Emerson, Arthur G. Fuller,
John F. Hosmer, William H. Hunt.
Programme :
George E. Walcott,
George M. Brooks, Edwin S. Barrett,
John L. Gilmore, Samuel Hoar.
Dinner :
Stephen G. Brooks,
George E. Walcott, Nathan B. Stow,
George H. Wright, George Heywood, Jr.
Reception :
George M. Brooks,
Grindall Reynolds. Charles H. Walcott,
Edward W. Emerson, Arthur G. Fuller.
Oration :
Grindall Reynolds,
Henry J. Hosmer, William Wheeler,
George M. Brooks, William H. Hunt.
Muxic :
John L. Gilmore,
Humphrey H. Buttrick, Edward J. Bartlett
Alfred B. C. Darin, James B. Wood.
Executive :
Samuel Hoar,
Richard F. Barrett, Charles E. Brown,
Edwin S. Barrett, Edward C. Damon,
Henry J. Hosmer, John L. Gilmore.
The details of the arrangements were at many meetings
duly made, ancl carefully carried out.
Hon. George F. Hoar, of Worcester, was selected as the Orator.
Hon. John S. Keyes, as President of the Day.
Capt. Richard F. Barrett, as Chief Marshal.
Rev. Benjamin R. Bulkeley, as Chaplain.
Hon. Georoe D. Robinson,
Hon. James Russell Lowell, Prof. William W. Goodwin,
Hon. William M. Evarts, Dr. Samuel A. Green,
Hon. Robert C. Winthrop, Mr. Hapgood Wright,
Hon. George William Curtis, Mr. Elijah B. Phillips,
Pres. Charles W. Eliot, Hon. George Bancroft,
were invited as the guests of the Town, each having some es
pecial connection by birth, residence or relationship with the
Town. The Selectmen of the Towns of Acton, Bedford,
Lincoln and Carlisle were also invited as the representatives
of their towns that once formed a part of Concord.

THE EXERCISES. 7
The public were notified of the arrangements by this order
that was published and circulated throughout the Town.
CELEBRATION op the
250th ANNIVERSARY
of the Incorporation OF
CONCORD !
September 12, 1885.

A Salute will Be Fired, and Bells will be Rung
at Sunrise.
THE CONCORD ARTILLERY,
THE OLD CONCORD POST, G. A. R.,
THE CONCORD BATTERY, and
THE CONCORD FIRE DEPARTMENT,
will form in Monument Square at 9.30 o'clock, A.M., and will march at 10
o'clock over Lexington, Heywood, Walden, Hubbard, Devens, Sudbury
and Thoreau Streets to the head of Main Street, where the invited guests
will be received at 10.30 o'clock, and escorted down Main Street to the
Town House.
The Literary Exercises in the Town Hall
will begin at 11 o'clock ; doors will be open at 10.30 o'clock. Alter the
Exercises at the Hall, the line will be reformed and march over Main,
Thoreau and Texas Streets to" the DINNER at Agricultural Hall, which
will be served at 1.30/o'clock, p. m. at which time the parade will be
dismissed. A Salute will be fired, and the Bells rung at sunBet.
Citizens are invited to Decorate their Houses along the line
of march.
RECEPTION AND PROMENADE CONCERT.
There will be a Reception and Promenade Concert in the Town Hall on
FRIDAY EVENING, Sept. 11th, from 7.30 to 11 o'clock, to which the citi-
zens of Concord and their guests are invited.
RICHARD F. BARRETT, Chief Marshal.

8 CONCORD CELEBRATION.
The Reception
was fixed for Friday evening Sept. 11th as more desirable than
the last night of the week. The Town Hall was finely deco
rated for the occasion, a large tablet inscribed with the exact
words of the original act of incorporation (as printed on the
first page of this volume), was placed over the rear of the plat
form, and could be read from all parts of the room. The hall
was well filled with ladies and gentlemen at an early hour, and
the Salem Cadet Band furnished the music for the concert.
The reception committee and their wives received those who
came, including the especial guests of the town most of whom
were present. These were cordially greeted, made welcome
and presented to the citizens of the town, among whom were
many old friends, relatives, and former neighbors. Many na
tive born and former residents attended, and renewed their
old ties of friendship or kinship with those present. After an
hour or two of greetings and conversation, dancing began, and
was kept up with much enjoyment till the close of what proved
an informal but agreeable and delightful opening of the Cele
bration. Saturday the twelfth day of September was favored with
the finest weather of the year. It was ushered in by a salute
fired by the Independent Mounted Battery under the command
of Capt. A. G. Fullkr, from the Concord cannon inscribed as
follows :
" The Legislature of Massachusetts consecrate the names of Major
John Buttrick and Captain Isaac Davis, whose valor and example
excited their fellow citizens to a successful resistance of a superior
number of British troops at Concord Bridge, the 19th of April, 1775,
which was the beginning of a contest in arms that ended in American
Independence." The seven historic tablets were finished and set in their
proper places, and the inscriptions on them were printed on the
programme of the Exercises at the Town Hall. The mornino-
hours were devoted to taking the guests of the town in car
riages to see these tablets, each party in charge of a member of
the Reception Committee. After the drive the guests and the
committee met at the house of the Chairman, Mr. Henry J.
Hosmer, and were entertained by him with a sumptuous lunch.

THE PROCESSION. 9
The Procession
was formed on the public square at the hour named under the
direction of Capt. Richard F. Barrett Chief Marshal and
his aids Capt. A. B. C. Dakin, Charles E. Brown, William
Barrett, George E. Walcott and Frank Gilmore. It con
sisted of The Salem Cadet Band, 24 pieces,
The Concord Artillery, Company I, 6th Regt.M. V. M.,
Capt. J. L. Gilmore, 50 men,
Old Concord Post, Grand Army of the Republic,
E. J. Bartlett, Commander, 60 men,
Concord Independent Mounted Battery,
Capt. A. G. Fuller, 2 guns, 20 men,
The Chelmsford Band, 24 pieces,
The Concord Fire Department,
Densmore B. Hosmer, Chief Engineer,
Westvale Engine Company, No. 2,
Walter Wright, Foreman, 30 men,
Independence Engine Co. No. 3,
Mark Loftus, Foreman, 25 men,
Hose Company No. 1,
Frank R. Garfield, Foreman, 16 men.
Each company of the Fire Department was in uniform and
had its machine in the line.
The procession marched promptly over the route indicated
to the house of the Chairman at the head of Main street where
it was reviewed by the Committee and their guests, who then in
their carriages took their place in the line directly in rear of the
Concord Artillery Company, their especial escort.
From there the parade moved over Main street to the Town
Hall through crowds of observers lining the sidewalks and win
dows the whole route. Nearly every house and store on the
line was handsomely decorated with flags, streamers and bunt
ing, and in the bright sunshine and clear September air made
under the brilliant foliage of the maples a pageant that gave to
the old town a fine holiday appearance.

10 CONCORD CELEBRATION.
At the Town Hall
the officers, committee and guests occupied the platform, the
Grand Army Post and municipal officers the reserved seats
in front, and the hall, gallery and ante rooms were crowded with
citizens, a majority of them ladies. The following programme
neatly printed on stiff paper was distributed.

16SS

CELE'B'RA TlOXf

Two Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary

Incorporation of Concord,
September 12, 1885.

Programme. a
PRAYER.
Rev. Benjamin Reynolds Bulkeley.

GREETING.
John Shepard Keyes.

SIjYGIjYG.
(By a Double Quartet from the church choirs.)
Invitation,  Kimball.

REPORT on the HISTORICAL TABLETS.
Charles Hosmer Walcott.

SINGING.
Psalm 107, from the Bay Psalm Book, lt>4(J.
Tune, St. Martin's.

ADDRESS.
George Frisbie Hoar.

SINGING.
America, . . . By the whole audience.

CONCORD CELEBRATION.
Hisforaal Cablets.

On a panel cut in Egg Rock at the junction of the Rivers :
on the hill nashawtuck
at the meeting of the rivers
and along the banks
lived the indian owners of
musketaquid
before the white men came

On a slate in the wall of the Hill Burying Ground :
ON THIS hill
THE SETTLERS OF CONCORD
BUILT THEIR MEETING HOUSE
NEAR WHICH THEY WERE BURIED
ON THE SOUTHERN SLOPE OF THE RIDGE
WERE THEIR DWELLINGS DURING
THE FIRST WINTER
BELOW IT THEY LAID OUT
THEIR FIRST ROAD AND
ON THE SUMMIT STOOD THE
LIBERTY POLE OF THE REVOLUTION

On a bronze plate set in granite on Lowell St., near the Square
HERE IN THE HOUSE OF THE
REVEREND PETER BULKELEY
FIRST MINISTER AND ONE OF THE
FOUNDERS OF THIS TOWN
• A' BARGAIN WAS MADE WITH THE
SQUAW SACHEM THE SAGAMORE TAHATTAWAN
AND OTHER INDIANS
WHO THEN SOLD THEIR RIGHT IN
THE SIX MILES SQUARE CALLED CONCORD
TO THE ENGLISH PLANTERS
AND GAVE THEM PEACEFUL POSSESSION
OF THE LAND
A. D. 1636.

PROGRAMME.
On a panel in a stone west of the Three-Arch Bridge :
ON THIS FARM DWELT
SIMON WILLARD
ONE OF THE FOUNDERS OF CONCORD
WHO DID GOOD SERVICE FOR
TOWN AND COLONY
FOR MORE THAN FORTY YEARS

On a bronze plate set in granite on the west side of the Square :

NEAR THIS SPOT STOOD
THE FIRST TOWN HOUSE
USED FOR TOWN MEETINGS
AND THE COUNTY COURTS
1721-1794

On a stone by the road, northwest of the Minute-Man

ON THIS FIELD
THE MINUTE MEN AND MILITIA
FORMED BEFORE MARCHING
DOWN TO THE
FIGHT AT THE BRIDGE

On a stone at the junction of the old Bedford and Boston roads :
meriam's corner
the british troops
retreating from the
old north bridge
were here attacked in flank
by the men of concord
and neighboring towns
and driven under a hot fire
to charlestown

U CONCORD CELEBRATION.
Promptly at eleven o'clock Chief Marshal Barrett called
the attention of the audience to the Prayer by the Rev. Benja
min R. Bulkeley, Chaplain of the day and minister of the oldest
church in Concord formed by his ancestor the first settled min
ister Rev. Peter Bulkeley.
At the close of this exercise the President of the day, Hon.
John S. Keyes, (son of the Hon. John Keyes who presided at
the Bi-Centennial celebration in 1835), greeted the assembly.
Fellow Citizens: — For to-day, at least, you are all, by birth or
adoption, citizens of Concord, the oldest inland town in the country,
the earliest settlement above tide-water, the first battle-ground of the
Revolution, the birth-place of American liberty; for if in Boston was
tbe conception, and in Lexington the agonizing throes of deadly pain,
here the blessed child was born.
To this memorable and venerable town, your old or your present
home, you have come up to renew your affection, and to this sweet
Concord its committee bids you a cordial, earnest welcome. Welcome
to its pleasant homes, its shaded streets, its quiet rivers. Welcome
to its scenes, where Emerson thought, and Hawthorne wrote, and
Thoreau walked, and Alcott talked. Welcome to its fine library, its
beautiful statue, its pure and flowing water, and if you stay long
enough — procul este — to its peaceful cemetery.
Read and ponder over its historic tablets set up on this anniversary
to remind the coming generations of the struggles of their forefathers.
These two hundred and fifty years cover nearly all of the history of
America; take us back in thought to the unbroken forest and the
Indian occupants of these meadows and hills. From Tahattawan, the
Sagamore of Musketaquid, to Ralph Waldo Emerson, the seer and
sage of CoDCord, is a long step in the world's progress. And yet two
centuries which three lives might have spanned have seen these great
changes. Dr. Bartlett. the old physician we all remember, had
talked with the Centenarian, Dr. Holyoke, who had talked with Pere
grine White, the first white child born in Plymouth.
For its first century Concord was a struggle for existence, — for its
second century a business and political centre, —for the last half cen
tury literature and philosophy have been its leading traits. Fifty years
ago to-day was hoard here the first of those matchless addresses
that have made Emerson's words and thoughts known wherever our
mother tongue is read or spoken. It has proved the key-note of the
Concord of this generation. At that time this town had no claim to
any man of more than local distinction, could present no name known
beyond the county limits. Within these filty years how many have
found here a "birthplace, a home or a grave" whose names are house
hold words." The roll of the illustrious dead can be left to you to
recall, and of the living some are in your presence.
On this anniversary naturally a comparison is made between the

HISTORIC TABLETS. 15
Concord of to-day and of former days. Contrast its appearance then,
you elders who have come back, and say in what respect there has
been a failure of duty by her citizens in the past. Impress it
now on your mind, you youths that so soon will have it in your keep
ing, and see to it that Concord gains in your hands new and added
renown. Let us all then give for the past thanks, for the present a
welcome, and for the future a cheer.
"Invitation" by Kimball was then rendered by the fol
lowing double quartette from the church choirs: Mrs. William
H. Brown and Miss Hattie E. Clark, sopranos ; Mrs. Geo.
A. King and Miss Eugenie Houghton, altos ; Mr. William
Barrett and Mr. Augustus Davis, tenors ; Mr. Thomas Todd
and Mr. Charles E. Brown, bassos ; Mrs. Chas. E. Brown,
accompanist. The presiding officer then said :
This town, having no pressing need of any great undertaking to
be completed on this anniversary, voted to permanently mark the
important events of its earlier history. The more recent are modestly
left to our successors to decide what proves worthy of commemora
tion. The writer of the volume "Concord in the Colonial Period,"
has increased our debt to him, by his labors in preparing and es
tablishing these historic tablets. And of the places which he, as
chairman of the Sub-Committee, and his associates have
"With graven stone
And tbe enduring bronze,"
fittingly inscribed, we are now to hear Chakles Hosjiek Walcott.

Report on The Historic Tablets.
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen :
On this interesting anniversary, the Town of
Concord aims to perpetuate upon its soil the names
of the two men who were leaders in the enterprise
of founding and building up the first inland town
in Massachusetts, and to mark with lasting me
morials of stone and bronze some of the places
most closely associated with our early history.
Among the men whom the people of Concord
delight to honor, Peter Bulkeley and Simon Wil-

16 CONCORD CELEBRATION.
lard are this day peculiarly entitled to grateful
homage. The committee in order to avoid, so far
as possible, comparisons of one benefactor with
another, have not ventured, strictly speaking, to
build monuments even to these deserving men, but
this distinction, at least, is awarded them, that,
with the exception of the Indian chiefs, no names
except theirs are inscribed upon our tablets.
Few towns or cities on this continent have
within their limits so much that is worthy of notice.
Rich as we are in places hallowed by associations
with eminent men and gifted women — places redo
lent of heroic action — to designate what shall be
accounted, for all time, most worthy of grateful re
collection, and to frame apt inscriptions that shall
set forth in language simple, clear and accurate,
the important facts, is to assume no light responsi
bility. This work the committee have endeavored
faithfully to perform, and without betraying, it is
hoped, any undue anxiety, they earnestly desire
that the results may meet with the approval of the
townspeople and their distinguished guests.
The tablets displayed to-day for your inspec
tion are seven in number. The inscriptions are
before you, and it is not necessary to repeat them.
The historical thread that runs through them and
joins them together is easily traced. Taken to
gether, and in connection with the monuments that
we already r.ossessed. they form an epitome of the
town's history for a century and a half — from the
beginning bf the plantation to the war of the revo
lution. The old Indian, Jehoiakin, in his testimony

HISTORIC TABLETS. 17
given and recorded in the year 1684, informs us "that
about 50 years since he lived within the bounds of
that place which is now called Concord at the foot
of an hill named Nashawtick," and that he was
present at the house of Mr. Peter Bulkeley, when
the bargain was made between the Indians and the
English planters. The simple words inscribed on
the rugged face of the rock, where the rivers meet,
will serve to remind us and succeeding generations
of a people who have vanished from the face of the
earth, leaving scarcely a trace of themselves, ex
cept a few arrow-heads and stone pestles, and,
here and there, a mound or a heap of clam shells.
The land that was more especially the dwell
ing-place of these unfortunate people passed into
the ownership of Simon Willard,1 and we have
thought it fitting to acknowledge the town's debt to
him by inscribing his name in letters of stone upon
the farm that he owned and occupied in Concord,
before he took up his abode in Lancaster, in
response to more urgent demands for his services.
Perhaps the most interesting of our memorials
is the bronze plate set in red granite, on Lowell
( j ) The following appears in the town records :
"Grantted to Simond Willard the South hill betwene the Rievers
bounded one the north by the oxe pastuer, the lyne to go one rod
beyond the tope of the hill at the uper end of his meadow one the
weast syd of the south Hill & so the lyne to rune in a, straight lyne
to the neerest pt of the North Riever & to the new fielld fence to
widow Earrits fence."
The context shows that this grant was made about the time that
the bridge over the South River was built in accordance with the di
rections of the commissioners of Concord and Lancaster, — that is, be
tween 1654 and 1656. It is a, curious fact that, in Willard's deed to
Marshall dated 1659, and in Marshall's dated 1660, the high land de
signated as "South Hill" in the town's grant was called '"North Hill."

1ft CONCORD CELEBRATION.
street, to mark the site of Mr. Peter Bulkeley's
house, where the memorable interview took place
between the white men and the Indians, and where,
in the words of the witness mentioned above the
"Indians declared themselves sattisfyed and told
the Englishmen they were welcome." The monu
ment stands on land described in 1GG1 by Grace
Bulkeley, widow of the minister, as her "house
loot and mill loot which is thirtie on acars." Re
cent excavations on the spot have disclosed frag
ments of old bricks and what appeared to be
portions of a stone foundation. A few feet from
the monument, within the memory of persons now
living, there was an excavation or depression in
ground that was commonly known as "the Bulkeley
cellar-hole ;" and in the History of Concord, pub
lished in 1835, Mr. Lemuel Shattuck indicates the
spot as the site of Mr. Bulkeley's house. After a
full consideration of all accessible evidence, the
committee have been led to the belief that the
statement of the town's historian is correct.
Scene, worthy of an artist's canvas, that meet
ing of the two races at the minister's house. The
Indians few in number, wasted by disease and
poverty, and beginning to realize the bitter truth
that the new day dawning in America could have
no brightness for them; the Englishmen strong
and keen, vigilant and hopeful, but just and con
siderate in all their actions, — the advanced guard
of a splendid civilization. The wonder is, that this
interesting event has so long escaped formal public
recognition. A slab of dark-blue slate imbedded in the wall

HISTORIC TABLETS. 19
of the old burying-ground — "the hill neare the
brooke" of the old record — points to the ridge that
gave friendly shelter to the homeless settlers and
determined the course of their first road. Once the
site of the Puritan meeting house,1 it received into
its dumb bosom and still retains the secrets of un
recorded tragedies of forty years. In later times
was borne upon its summit that prophecy of Ameri
can independence — the liberty-pole of the Revolu
tion. On the Common or Training-field a stone has
been placed to mark the site of the first town house,
built in 1721, partly of materials furnished by the
second meeting house.2 Here, in provincial times,
courts were held and the inhabitants came together
in town meeting, until by reason of the heated dis
cussions that immediately preceded the Revolution.
the building proved unequal to the service required
1 It appears from the town records that, under date of February 5,
1635-6, it was
"Ordered that the meeting house stand on the hill neare the
brooke on the east side of goodman Judsons lott;"' and
"Ordered that the highway under the hill therough the Towne is
to be left foure Rodes broad."
2 On December 30, 1795 (Middlesex Deeds L. 119 f. 518) the Town
of Concord conveyed to David Page "a certain piece of Common land
lying in the middle of the town of Concord on which the old Court
house now stands containing about twenty square rods of Ground and
. is bounded as follows viz, begining at the North westerly corner of
the premisses at a stake in the ground seventeen feet from the easterly
corner of the school-house and runing south seventy four degs. west
forty seven feet to Doctor Timothy Minot's land to a stake, thence
runing South seventeen degs. East, by land of said Minot, and land
belonging to the County of Middlesex one hundred and twenty nine
feet to a stake drove in the Ground, thence runing north seventy four
degs. East forty five feet to a stake in the ground forty four feet from
the northerly corner of Lt. John Richardson's house thence rnning
north fifteen degs. west one hundred & twenty nine feet to stake
first mentioned — reserving the old Court house now on the premises."

SO CONCORD CELEBRATION.
of it; and subsequent gatherings in the venerable
meeting house that stands facing the Green to-day
gave evidence at once of the people's intensity of
of purpose and of their feeling that in the ap
proaching struggle human efforts would grow weary
and slacken, unless inspired from above. Our monu
ment recognizes the historical value of the New
England town meeting. It is appropriately erected
in a town where that form of government by the peo
ple survives in all its original purity and excellence.
The logical interval is not great between the
old town house on the common and the hill beyond
the river, where a granite block is set to commemo
rate the forming of the minute men and militia,
in preparation for the first aggressive, forward
movement against the King's troops. That move
ment was the natural and necessary result of their
votes and resolutions passed in town meeting. It
was fitting that the smoke rising from the town
house roof and painly visible to the men on the hill,
should give the signal for attacking the enemy.
After the collision at the old North Bridge,
the opposing forces withdrew a little, to renew their
strength and adjust themselves to the new state of
affairs, — the British, to call in their detachments
and withdraw from the town as quickly as possi
ble, — the Americans to arouse the country and
harass the invaders on their return. John Buttrick
had taken upon himself to deelare war against the
British empire, and his countrymen were not
slow to make known their intention to sustain his
action. Their determination was manifested with
effect by the attack on the retreating foe at Meriam's

HISTORIC TABLETS. SI
Corner, where our seventh tablet is a boulder firmly
set in the wall.
Inowinvite your attention to an ancient docu
ment recently found by me in the State Archives,1
a paper that has never been printed, or alluded to
by writers who have treated of the events of the
19th of April. Its great value, as it seems to me,
consists in the fact that it supplies what has always
been lacking in the accounts of the day, — a graphic
sketch by an eye-witness of what was going on in
the centre of Concord during its brief occupation
by the enemy.
I read from a copy of a petition dated Febru
ary 4, 1770, bearing the name of Martha Moulton,
the old house-keeper of Master Timothy Minot and
addressedTo The Honorable Court of the Province of the Massachusetts
Bay in New England In their present session at Water-
town
The Petition of Martha Moulton of Concord in sa Province
Widow Woman. Humbly sheweth
That on the 19th day of April 1775, In the forenoon The
Town of Concord, wherein I dwell, was beset with an array of
Regulars who, in a Hostile manner enter'd the Town and Draw'd
up in Form before the Door of the house where I Live, and
there they continu'd on the Green feeding their horses within
five feet of the Door — and about 50 or 60 of them was in and
out the house, calling for water & what they wanted, for about
three hours at the same time all our near Neighbours In the
greatest Consternation were Drawn off to places far from the
thickest part of the Town, where I Live and had taken with
them their Families & what of their best Effects they cou'd
carry, — some to a neighbouring Wood, and others to remote
i Massachusetts Archives, Vol. 180, Page 306.

gg CONCORD CELEBRATION.
houses for security. Your Petitioner being Left to the mercy
of six or seven hundred armed men and no person near bur an
old man of 8."> years & myself 71 years old & both very Infirm
— It may easily be Imagin'd what a sad condition yr Petit1 must
be in. Under these circumstances yr Petit' Comitted herself, more
Especially to the Divine protection and was very remarkably
helpt with so much Fortitude of mind, as to wait on them as
they call'd — with water & what we had — Chairs for Maj. Pit-
earn & 4 or 5 more officers who sat at the Door Viewing their
men at length yr Petit1 had, by degrees cultivated so much
favor as to talk a little with them — when all on a sudden They
had set fire to the Great-Gun Carriages Just by the house and
while they were in flames yr Petit' saw smoke arise out of the
Town house higher than the Ridge of the house — Then yr Petit'
did put her Life, as it were in her hand, and ventur'd to beg of
the officers to send some of their men to put out the fire, but
they took no notice, only sneered. Your Petitr seing the Town
house on fire & must in a few minutes be past recovery Did jTet
venture to Expostulate with the officers Just by her as she
stood with a pail of Water in her hand Begging of them to send
It — when they only said — O mother we wont do you any harm
Dont be concern'd mother — & such like talk. The house still
burning and knowing that all the Row of 4 or 5 houses as -well
as the Schoolhouse was in Certain danger yr Petitr (not know
ing but she might provoke them by her Incessant pleading —
yet ventur'd to put as much strength to her arguments as an
Importunate widow cou'd think of — And so yr Petit' can safely
say that under Divine Providence she was an Instrument of
saving the Court House and how many more is not certain
from being consum'd — with a great deal of valuable furniture —
and at the great Risque of her Life, at Last by one pail of
water after another they sent and Did Extinguish the fire and
now ,may it please this Hon'd Court, as several People of note
in the Town have advis'd yr Petit' Thus to Inform the public
of what she had done — and as no notice has been taken of her
for the same — she begs Leave to Lay this her case before your
honors and to Let this hon'd Court also know that yr Petit' is
not only so Old as to be not able to earn wh are with to support
herself — is very Poor and shall think her highly honor'd in

HISTORIC TABETS. 33
the Favorable notice of this Hon'd Court, as what y' Petit'
has Done was of a Public as well as a private Good and as
your honors are in a Public Capacity yr Petit' begs that it may
not be taken ill In this way to ask in the most humble manner
something — as a Fatherly Bounty — such as to your great wis
dom & Compassion shall seem meet and your Petitioner, as in
Duty bound For the peace & prosperity of this our American
Israel, shall ever pray Martha Moulton
Concord
Feb. 4 1776
The Committee upon the forgoing Petition have attended that
Service & beg leave to Report the following Resolve
In the House of Representatives May 8th 1776
Resolved that there he paid out of the Publick Treasury to
James Barrat Esqr. the sum ef three pounds for the use of Mar
tha Moulton the Petitioner for her good Services in so boldly
& s'uccessivly preventing the enemy from Burning the Town
House in Concord as set forth in her Petition.
[Indorsed in the same handwriting as the petition.]
" For Mr
Samuel Freeman
att Falmouth,
Present Clerk
ofthe Hon1 House
of Representatives
In Watertown."
[In another handwriting.] uMr Kinsbury
Mr Woodbridge
Mr BentX
'¦'¦Martha Moulton's
Petition.'"
"Read May 8 & not
acceptedX

U CONCORD CELEBRATION.
The choir then sang the old 107th Psalm to the tune of St.
Martin, each of the lines being deaconed in the old fashion before
sinoing. The President :
On hardly more than an acre of land on the main street of Con
cord, stood three houses from which have gone forth, in the last fifty
years, five representatives to the Congress of the United States. Of
these, one has been a member of the Cabinet, and one a Senator at
Washington. That one, the youngest of them, connected by blood
and lineage with the Declaration of Independence and the March
through Georgia to the Sea, I have the honor of presenting to you
now as the Orator of the Day.
In his native town, on this platform built of the oak of the Old
North Bridge where his grandfather and the ancestors of many of
you once "Fired the shot heard round the world,"
his eloquence cannot fail to inspire and delight you. The Senator of
Massachusetts, GEORGE FRISBIE HOAR.

Address by Hon, George F. Hoar.
The story of Concord, the most noble, touch
ing, and famous story that any community which
now governs itself after the ancient fashion of a
ISTew England town has the right to tell, has been
narrated by orators and historians with whom no
successor will, for a moment, enter into competi
tion. Some of you remember when the aged clergy
man of the town, who, with his gray hairs and his
mild authority, seemed the very genius of puritan
and revolutionary Concord, at the end of a half-
century's service, recounted to his congregation
the wonderful dealing of God with his people who
"here first planted the standard of the cross and of
liberty." Three years before, EdAvard Everett,
then in his prime and splendor, traced the causes
and the results ofthe events ofthe 19th of April,
1775. By his magic art, he caused his audience

ADDEESS. 25
to hear once more, after fifty years silence, the
sound of the old New England drums beating on
all the roads, and to see again, as in visible pre
sence, the march to the bridge, and the flashing of
the unintermitted fire that lined every patch of
trees, every rock, every stream of water, every
building, every stonewall, from Meriam's corner to
Charlestown. Her own most illustrious son, the
foremost teacher in his generation of both hemis
pheres, on the day of her second centennial, summed
up for Concord the rich lessons of her history. In
1850, Mr. Rantoul delivered the masterly discourse
which was his last great public service before his
untimely death. Bancroft has compressed the re
sult of investigations begun more than sixty years
ago into that twenty-eighth chapter, which, if
American liberty survive, shall outlast Thucydides.
In 1875, the successor of Dr. Ripley, in a sermon
inspired by the loftiest faith of the Fathers, showed
that the Revolution was "the reverence for God's
sovereignty and His righteous will enacted into
law, and brought into martial array." After all
this, what would have been impossible to almost
any other living orator, in the presence of Presi
dent Grant and his cabinet, the executives of many
states, and a vast concourse of citizens, Mr. Curtis
told again, with new and increased interest, the
familiar tale which he had learned in Concord in
his boyhood. There is little left for us, to-day, but common
places; — and to thank the Power who hath so
ordered our lot and our lineage that our common
places are such things as these.

26 CONCORD CELEBRATION.
It is difficult to tell the plain story of any New
England town without seeming to be boastful. We
will strive, in all we have to say on this occasion,
to keep within the bounds of that moderation,
which has always been so prominent a trait in the
character of Concord. But still we must describe
her as she appears to her children. We have a
right to tell our mother on her birthday that we
love her, and that her venerable face is fairer in our
eyes than all the roses of girlhood.
The chief marvel which impresses us when we
look at the Concord of two hundred and fifty years
ago is the permanence of what our ancestors
founded. Children of an adventurous race, born
to build states, and to furnish the material of which
states are builded, with the ancestral Norseman's
hunger for sea and horizon and forest, dwellers on
this sandy plain, in this bleak and savage climate,
with no wall to keep them in, tempted in later
generations by luxurious city and fertile Avest, how
much of the original Concord, with its institutions,
its character, its faith, its blood and breed, is here.
Like the rest of the old thirty New England towns,
from whom one third of the people of the United
States are descended, it has given of itself to a
thousand communities, all over the country. But,
perhaps more than any other, it has assimilated
and digested into its own likeness what has come
to it from without.
We are celebrating the origin of a life which
has been contemporary with a large part of what
is remembered or is worth remembering in history.
Fifteen years after the landing at Plymouth, five

Address. &
years after John Winthrop came to Salem and
founded Boston, civilization turned westward from
the sea coast and planted its first footstep here-
The men who came to Concord with Peter Bulkeley
and ^imon Willard had seen in England persons
who, in their time had looked into the faces of men
who were alive when Sebastian Cabot sailed into
Bristol harbor with the news that he had planted
the English flag on an unknown continent "larger
than Christendom." They had seen men who re
membered when the first Bible was printed, and
the first Protestant sermon preached.
Before their day, how little had happened that
comes down to us among the living realities of his
tory. We have a knowledge, which we call his
torical, of one great empire, and that somewhat
less in extent than our own. The roots of the
English constitution and common law had been
growing for some centuries in the soil of the little
territory called England. The great reigns of
Henry the Eighth and Elizabeth had dispelled the
darkness of the middle ages. All else of human
history which has survived, which we teach our
children, to which an educated man cares to look
for instruction or example, is that of a single Asia
tic people less in number than Massachusetts, a
Grecian commonwealth smaller than Boston, two
brilliant reigns in Spain, Holland behind her dikes,
Switzerland on her chainless mountains, the brief
glories of poetry and art of a few Italian cities, the
brief struggles for liberty of a few towns by the
northern sea. Pretty much every thing else ofthe
earlier story of our planet has perished from among

&8 CONCORD CELEBRATION.
living realities, and belongs to the domain of the
antiquary or the archaeologist, to be conjectured
fromruins, or from fossil i««d bones, or broken pottery-
Concord was settled before any American town
that does not touch tide-water. Her life has
been longer than that of thirty-three of our thirty-
eight states, and is about coeval with the other five.
She is nearly twice and one half as old as the na
tion, and the constitution of Massachusetts. All
modern literature since the death of Shakespeare,
in whose lifetime our early settlers were born, all
modern science, all modern invention, is since their
day. The world had not heard ofthe law of gravi
tation, and had just heard, but not yet believed,
that the earth moves and the blood circulates.
As I pointed out, — in speaking of the history
of a portion of our original town last year, — since
our fathers came here, the great empire of Russia
and all the South American states haA'e taken their
place among civilized nations.
The mighty Germany,
She of the Danube and the .Northern Sea,
has been built up from sixty petty states. Six
dynasties have held dominion in Spain. Four have
sat in succession on the throne of England, while
she has united with herself Ireland and Scotland,
lost America, conquered Canada, and subjected two
hundred and fifty million Asiatics. France has
been twice a republic, twice a monarchy again, and
now is a republic for the third time. Italy has
shaken the armed heel of Austria from off her neck,
has banished the Bourbons, and overthrown the

ADDRESS. '^
temporal power of the Pope. Belgium and Hol
land have been joined and severed. The star of
Poland has disappeared from the sky. Japan has
risen in the East, has thrown off her barbarism of
ages, and come to sit docile at the feet of America,
to learn civilization, laws, manners. Yet how
much, in the great essentials of self-government, of
character, of religious faith, of the love of liberty,
is preserved of the Concord of 1 635 in the Concord
of to-day! The town our fathers planted is here,
as little changed, in its two and a half centuries, as
any other civilized community that has a history.
The town and the parish abide as our fathers
framed them. The simple and cheap mechanism,
of which no man knows the contriver, has, with
out substantial change, here perlormed per
fectly all the chief functions of government "in
simple democratic majesty." The first church
covenant, drawn up by Peter Bulkeley, would re
quire little change, if any, to be accepted to-day,
by a large majority of the people, as a rule of
faith and practice.
I have now before me an original memorial, ad
dressed to the General Court in 1664, twenty-nine
years after the settlement. It bears the names of
ninety-three of the inhabitants. It is the sure
prophecy of the 19th of April, and of the Declara
tion of Independence. As soon as Charles II. was
firmly seated on the throne, and the mitre and the
crown had become omnipotent again, Lord Claren
don turned his attention to the subjugation of the
little Commonwealth, where all the strength left to
Puritanism seemed to dwell. " It may be pre-

36 CONCORD CELEBRATION.
sumed," he declared, "that they will harden in
their constitution, and grow on nearer to a com
monwealth, toward which the}7 are already well-
nigh ripened." He urged upon the King that
" scarce any future accident or state of affairs can,
in any probability, render the reduction of that
doubtful people more feasible than at this point of
time they may be found to be." At his sugges
tion, four ships of war, the first that ever dropped
anchor in Massachusetts waters, and four hundred
troops were despatched to Boston, conveying the
royal commissioners, Avho were empowered to as
sume and exercise the fullest jurisdiction, civil,
criminal, and military. The General Court, on
their side, prepared themselves for the defence of
their charter, put in order the trainbands, and
placed an able officer in command ofthe Castle. I
cannot here give the history of that memorable
struggle, which the skill of the Puritan statesmen
prolonged for twenty years. My purpose is to
show the temper of Concord and the stable char
acter of her population.
To the honoured generall Court of the Massachusets Collonie,
hold at Boston October -S- 19 : 1664 : the humble representation
of the Inhabitants of the Towne of Concord, both freemen and
others. Forasmuch as we understand, that there have been complaints
made unto his Majestie, concerning divisions amongst us, aud
dissatisfaction about the present Government of this Colonie ;
we whose names are underwritten doe hereby testifie our unan
imous satisfaction in, and adhearing to, the present Govern
ment, soe longe, and orderly established, and our earnest de
sire of the Continuance thereof, und of all thelibertvs, and priv
iledges appertaining thereunto, which are Contained in the

ADDRESS. 31
Charter granted by King James, and King Charles the first of
Blessed Memorie ; uuder the encouragement, and security of
which Chattel- . we or our fathers ventured over the Ocean, into
this wilderness, through great hazzards, charges, and difficulties ;
And seeing our rightfull Soveraigne hath priviledged you with
power by force of armes to defend this place and people (we
having encouragement from the honoured Council, cannot but
acknowledge it a mercie of god, that you soe minde the good
and preset vation of this place, and people, according to oath)
we doe declare that we are readie to assist both with persons
and estates, that soe by the Goodness and mercy of god we
may still enjoy present priviledges and remaine yours in all
Humble observance.
Dr. Ripley says, truly, that " it was scarcely, if
any, less adventurous, or perilous, in 1635, to come
from Cambridge to Concord, than from Holland to
Plymouth in 1620, or from England to Salem, seven
or eight years afterwards." Yet the men who less
than twenty years before had made that perilous
journey by the Indian path, their little town still
but an outpost, eleven years before Philip's war,
with their sons, were girding up their loins again
to defend Avith life, and everything that belonged
to life, their precious plant of " the cross and of
liberty." Of the ninety-three men who signed that
paper two hundred and twenty-one years ago, there
are fourteen whose descendants, bearing their
names, live on the same land to-day. There are
twenty-three others whose descendants of the same
name dwell within what Avere then the limits of
Concord. There are four others of whom the same
is probably true. At least nine more are repre
sented through female descendants. A few others
have become extinct in Concord, quite lately. At

32 CONCORD CELEBRATION.
least fifty of the ninety-three signers of that paper
are represented, I presume, in this assembly. Here
are the names, honored now as then, which have
made up so much of the character and history of
Concord, and of the towns which have been set off
from her, for two hundred and fifty years. It is
headed hy Thomas Brooks. Here is the sturdy
Kentishman, Dolor Davis, ancestor of three Massa
chusetts governors, — Davis, Long, and Robinson,
— a Arine whose vintage, like the best wine, con
tinues to improve with years. Here are Brooks,
Browne, Fletcher, Flint, Hosmer, Stow, Hayward,
Heywood, Wheeler, Hunt, Miles, Hoare, Tailor,'
Baker, Heald, Hartwell, Davis, Barrett, Rice,
Wood, Merriam, Dudley, Jones, Ball, Dakin, Bar
ker, Buttrick, Billings, Blood. I believe there are
few English towns who could tell such a story.
A very few of the great mass of mankind im
press you with a sense of their indiAriduality.
When you think of them it is not a vague human
image, it is Napoleon, Washington, Webster, Fen
elon. that rises in the imagination. Ofthe multi
tude of cities and towns whose names are pre
served in history there are a very feAv that seem
to be anything but an aggregate or society of men,
distinguished by name or locality only from all the
others belonging to the same region or country or
century. As you go from state to state, or from
district to district, one name, one country, one
town is pretty much like another. But when
Athens, or Edinburgh, or Boston is named, you
have a conception of a separate life, a life like no
other, with a quality of its own, like a face of Van

ADDRESS. 33
Dyke or a statue of Phidias, or a striking human
character. The number of communities of this
class is not large. But I think that by the gen
eral consent of all intelligent students of her
history, Concord would be held to belong to it.
The town was settled by men direct from Eng
land, chosen by Bulkeley to be his companions.
The quality which he and they gave it, it retained.
The name is commonly supposed to have come
from the harmony of the compact with the Indians
by which the title was acquired. But the record
shows that this name was chosen before our an
cestors came into the forest. It is doubtless due
to the taste and gentle spirit of Bulkeley. You
do not find in its history a trace of the fierce, cruel,
haughty, intolerant temper, so often attributed to
Puritanism, of Avhich John Endicott is the type.
It was the ideal Puritan community. No Quaker
was whipped, no witch hung, no heretic banished.
The persecution which had driven them from
England, had left no bitterness which we can
trace. "Bulkeley's Gospel Covenant," a book
made up, he declares, of sermons delivered to
his people, and received by them "with unani
mous approbation and assent as the truth of
God," exhibits in style and thought the best
scholarship of the generation which translated the
Bible in King James' version. Some of its pas
sages, in their tenderness and loftiness, remind
us of the most affectionate parts of the epistles
of Paul. It breathes throughout the very spirit
of grace, mercy, and peace. "O England! my
deare native countrey," he exclaims, "whose wombe

34 CONCORD CELEBRATION.
bare me, whose breasts nourished me, and in whose
armes I should desire to die, Give eare to one of
thy children which dearly loveth thee — Stirre up
thyselfe with thankfulnesse and joy of heart to
embrace the things of thy peace. Esteem the
gospel as thy pearle, thy treasure, thy crowne, thy
felicite." The aboriginal title to the land was honorably
acquired and paid for. Major Willard and Thomas
Flint, as well as their minister, were close friends
of Eliot and Gookin, and exerted themselves to
secure just and humane treatment for the Indian.
Tahattawan, the sachem of Musketaquid, was one
of the earliest converts, and remained steadfast
until his death.
It was about a century from the death of the last
of our early settlers who came frQm England to the
breaking out of the Revolution. It is a century of
New England life which has had too little regard
either from local or general history. It had few
great reputations. Mr. Webster's list of the great
names of NeAv England in 1720, at the end of its
first century, is almost ludicrous for its poverty.
But it wTas a wonderful century for the training of
a great people. The whole hundred years Avas a
romance full of stirring adventure. It Avas a life
under arms. Capt. Wheeler's expedition to
Brookfield in 1675 surpasses in interest any in
vention of Cooper. The three things from Avhich
comes the heroic temper, from Avhich comes a race
fitted for the most strenuous contests of Avar and
statesmanship, capable of the great moral self-
restraints, as needful to length of life and health in

ADDRESS. 35
a nation as temperance to that of the body, were
the constant discipline of this people. These three
things Avere, — war, straining to the utmost every
resource of courage, endurance, and skill; — the
century-long discussion of the natural rights of the
people, their rights under the charter and British
constitution, which lay at the foundation of the
State; — and the constant consideration ofthe rela
tion of man to his Creator and to the controlling law
of duty. On the one hand were the French and
Indians, a constant menace to the state whose
frontier was never a day's march from Concord.
On the other was the mighty power of Eng
land, where Stuart, Cromwell, Orange, Hanover
alike looked with jealousy on the little self-govern
ing commonwealth. There was scarcely a Con
cord family that had not some member killed,
wounded, or a prisoner, or had not its own story
of perilous adventure and escape. The town
furnished many braAre and able officers of high
rank. What West Point education was ever like
this military school ! Every boy was a sharp
shooter. The father told the children at the fire
side the tale of Philip's war, of the burning of
Lancaster and Groton, of the fight at Sudbury, of
the escape of Mary Shepard, of the rescue of Mrs.
Rowlandson, of Wheeler's desperate struggle, of
Willard's coming to the deliverance of Brookfield
at sundown, of the great French wars of William
and Mary and Queen Anne, of Lovell's Fight, of
Fort Edward, of William Henry, of Crown Point,
of Martinique, of the Havana, of Louisburg, which
our fathers captured with its own cannon, of Que-

36 CONCORD CELEBRATION.
bee, where at last the lilies went down before the
lion, never again, but for a brief period in Louisi
ana, to float as an emblem of dominion over any
part of North America, In all this the town did
its full share. To every' one of these things belongs
a Concord story. These were the experiences not
of wild and adventurous spirits, but of sober citi
zens, of church-members, and deacons. The old
Indian fighter discoursed with his neighbor of the
true boundary which separates liberty and author
ity in the state, of the principles of constitutional
freedom, and the defence of his natural rights
against king and parliament and royal gov
ernor. From the pulpit a succession of able and
pious clergymen, such as for two hundred and fifty
years have been the pride and croAvn of Concord,
discoursed to an obedient congregation of their re
lation!; to their Creator, of duty, and of the things
that lay hold on eternal life.
The first century and a half was but one long
drill for the Revolution. So it is that the PoAver
Avhich planted the coal, and whose subtle chemis
try gets ready the iron for the use of the new race,
gets his children ready, that they shall not fail in
that supremest hour when America is to be born.
There were three separate acts in that im
mortal drama of the 19th of April, — each unlike
the other, each unlike any other. First was the
death of Parker and Muzzey, ancl Munroe and
Harrington, and their comrades, the first-born
of American liberty, who fell on the green at
Lexington, in the gray dawn of that April morn
ing. Then comes the march to the bridge at Con-

ADDRESS. 37
cord, — John Buttrick's word of command, from
which dates the separation from England and the
liberty of a hemisphere ; the shot heard round the
world; the countenance of Isaac Davis, pleasant
and unchanged in death; the irresolute march and
countermarch of the British on the green/ r¥he /?—
retreat begun here, never ended till Yorktown.
These things are living and real to us, as if we had
seen them yesterday, and shall be living and real to
our children and our children's children until time
shall be. no more.
Perhaps we do not rate as highly as it deserves
the skill and courage shown in the third act of the
drama, the long pursuit from Concord to Charles
town. One of the famous generals of our late
war, a distinguished man of a distinguished family,
told me a few months ago, that he had recently
made a thorough military study ofthe event| ofthe
19th of April, and that he has been very greatly
impressed with the military ability shown by the
Americans in the pursuit of the British on that
occasion. It is a most dangerous and difficult thing
successfully to pursue and attack a disciplined
force, well armed, and protected by flanking guards.
The events of that day are a test and a demon
stration of the highest military quality in the peo
ple of a whole community, more than is found in
many great battles.
I think there can be no reasonable doubt that
the events of the 19th of April had been, as far as
possible, expected and arranged beforehand. The
notion that the breaking out of hostilities was an
unpremeditated, unexpected, unprepared, sponta-

38 CONCORD CELEBRATION.
neons outbreak of the people, that a prairie fire
caught and spread over the land, has prevailed
largely in the popular mind, and has found coun
tenance from some high authorities. Nothing is
farther from the truth. The American Revolution
was a war as clearly foreseen and as thoroughly
prepared for to the extent of their power, by the
party Avhich prevailed, as any war in history. Mil
itary stores, such as their means permitted, were
gathered, military forces organized and officered,
and articles of war enacted, and the machinery,
legislative and executive, of civil government
created and put in order. When, on the 1st of
September, 1774, Gen. Gage seized the powder
belonging to the provinces on Mystic river, ancl two
field-pieces at Cambridge, the militia of Worces
ter and Hampden counties began their march
to Boston. Putnam heard of it in Connecticut,
and summoned the militia there to take up arms.
At least twenty thousand men Avere on the way.
They were stopped by couriers from the Com
mittee of Safety, who determined that the time
for force had not yet come. Putnam Avrote to
them: "But for counter-intelligence, Ave should
have had forty thousand men Avell equipped and
ready to march this morning. Send a written ex
press to the foreman of this committee when you
have occasion for our martial assistance; Ave shall
attend your summons, and shall glory in having
a share in the honor of ridding our country of the
yoke of tyranny, which our forefathers have not
borne, neither will we; ancl Ave much desire you
to keep a strict guard over the remainder of

ADDRESS. 39
your powder, for that must be the great means,
under God, for the salvation of our country."
" How soon we may need your most effectual
aid," answered the committee, " we cannot de
termine; but, agreeably to your wise proposal, we
shall give you authentic intelligence on such con
tingency. The hour of vengeance comes lowering
on: repress your ardor, but let us adjure you not
to smother it."
When the September court met in Worcester in
1771 the main street was occupied by five thousand
men, arranged under leaders, in companies, six
deep. Unquestionably the instant march to Concord
of the minute-men and militia in companies, and
the care not to begin the war by firing before they
were fired upon was the result of a previous order
from the authority which could send back to their
homes, without an instant's hesitation, twenty thou
sand men, armed, and eager for the conflict. Col.
Barrett's order not to fire unless fired upon Avas in
strict accordance with the declaration of Eleazer
Brooks, a member of the Provincial Congress, early
in the morning", — "It will not do for us to begin
the war."
Orators may be ready to adopt a theory as to
the course of our history which attributes a magic
influence to the weapon they Avield, or gives an un
due proportion to the elements and passions in
human nature to which they appeal. Patrick
Henry utters a passionate outcry, or Wendell
Phillips a burning incentive, or some stirring event
sends an electric shock through the land, and lo!

40 CONCORD CELEBRATION.
the people overthrow a dynasty, or strike off the
fetters from a race of slaves, and Liberty is born.
This may be, for aught I know, human nature
among Mussulman tribes or Parisian mobs. But
it is not American nature; it is not Massachusetts
nature; it is not Concord nature. The sturdy
oak of American freedom has no such mushroom
growth. The men who in their generation
achieved American Independence, like their chil
dren, who in their generation preserved the Union
ancl freed the slave, governed their action and
measured their duty with the deliberation and
calmness that became men who were to establish
constitutions and men Avho were to preserve them.
The habit of setting forth the law of religious and
moral obligation in a written creed, and of look
ing for the limits and restraints of civil authority
to a charter or written constitution and bill of
rights, begets caution, exactness in reasoning, and
dislike of exaggeration. Every step they took was
premeditated, measured, firmly planted, and Avithout
a retreat. Their leaders were graA'e and tem
perate thinkers, aged and sober clergymen, states
men prepared for making constitutions, and the
great permanent systems of law that lie at the
foundation of all society. They valued the old-
fashioned virtue of consistency, and they practised
the old-fashioned virtue of constancy. They
detested and rebuked exaggeration. "The libertv
they pursued," as Burke Avell said, " Avas a liberty
from order, from virtue, from morals, from religion,
and was neither hypocritically nor fanatically
followed."

ADDRESS. 41
It has been often said that at the moment of
John Buttrick's Avord of command American na
tional life began; and that is true. The order
Avas given to British subjects. The order was
obeyed by American citizens. But it was also the
germinant moment of a principle destined not
merely to control' a single state or nation, but
sooner or later to pervade all civilized nations in
both hemispheres. It is the principle not that men
are to be governed, but that they are to govern
themselves, under the restraints imposed by jus
tice and reason. The great and crowning glory
and distinction of humanity, the imposing, by itself
upon itself, of a rule furnished by reason, tested
and approved by conscience, controlling the incli
nation and the will, was thereafter to be the method
of mankind in the conduct of states.
When we consider the grandeur and the vast
consequences of the events of that day the local
controversies to which they have given rise become
inexpressibly trivial. There is glory and honor
enough to go round. From within a radius of six
or eight miles from this spot came all the men who
encountered the invaders any where until theyAvere
well on their retreat. To Joseph Robinson, of
Westford, is due the honor, rare in military history,
of declining rank, but accepting in its fullest ex
tent both danger and responsibility. The ball from
the first hostile shot passed under his arm as he
walked by the side of Buttrick. With that excep
tion, the men from before whom the British re
treated were from the towns embraced in the
original Concord. The number of the slain is no

42 CONCORD CELEBRATION.
necessary test of the importance of a battle. The
Englishmen lost at Agincourt but four gentle
men: —
None else of name ; and of all other men
But five and twenty.
Plassey, which gained India to England, cost the
victors seven European and sixteen natiAre soldiers
killed, thirteen European and thirty-six natives
wounded. The Americans lost but twenty-seven
at New Orleans. There were more Englishmen
slain on the retreat from Concord than fell of
Wolfe's army who captured Quebec; more than
were slain oi' the Greek side at Marathon. More
men fell on both sides that day than at the first
battle of Bull Run.
But all this is but a season of planting. The
Puritan secured for his descendants the right to wor
ship God, and the men of the Revolution the right
to self-government. Whether these things were
worth doing, or, at least, whether their children
are not the last people who should relate their
story, must be determined by a survey of later and
more peaceful times. Mankind cannot always be
submitted to tests like war and the founding: of
states. The glory of the founder is the finished
building. The glory of the patriot is the country
he has saved. Children's children are the crown of
old men. The hundred years beginning in 1783,
ancl just ended, must tell us whether it Avere not
better that Bulkeley had stayed in the pleasant
vales of Bedfordshire, and Simon Willard and
James Hosmer in rich and fertile Kent.

ADDRESS. 43
We are as far from the Concord to which Emer
son spoke in 1835 as that was from the Concord
of the Revolution. The man or woman is now de
parted from among the living, or is past the Psalm
ist's allotted term of human life, Avho, a youth of
tAventy-one, listened in the venerable church to the
sweet, rich tones of our beloved sage, as he spake
to the congregation, adorned by those crowns of
glory, the hoary heads of the survivors of the Rev
olution. We can look, as with the eyes of posterity, upon
more than half a century of the peaceful and quiet
life of this community. The labor ofthe founders,
the struggle with England, the crowning sacrifice
and conflict of the Revolution, were but to win the
right to be and to remain what Concord was in
1885, and has been since. It was as absolute a
democracy, in the best sense of that word, as ever
existed on the face of this earth. Mr. Emerson
thought that "the town records should be printed
and presented to the governments of Europe, — to
the English nation as a thank-offering, and as a
certificate of the progress of the Saxon race; to
the continental nations as a lesson of humanity
and love." " Tell them," he said, " the Union has
twenty-four States, and Massachusetts is one. Tell
them Massachusetts has three hundred towns, and
Concord is one; that in Concord are five hundred
ratable polls, and every one has an equal vote."
But it was something far more than a political de
mocracy. The most extreme and oppressive social
distinctions often prevail under constitutions secur
ing the most absolute political equality. The

44 CONCORD CELEBRATION.
relation of the neighbor, at its very best, existed
here in that sense which Dr. Johnson gives as its
signification in divinity: "One partaking of the
same nature, and therefore entitled to good offices."
There was little wealth and little poverty. There
were no palaces and no hovels. I clo not think it
occurred .to the richest man in town that he Avas
thereby entitled to any superiority, or to the poor
est that he must for that reason doff his hat to any
man. When the people formed their procession
for their centennial, if the little black girl were
left alone, the beautiful favorite of the school-room
took her place by her side. The towns-people Avho
were well-to-do took an interest as in friends in
the inmates of the poor-house, who, under the old
settlement laws, must have had, by themselves or
through their ancestors, some close relation to the
town. This sense of social and personal equality
was by no means inconsistent with a just regard
for authority or personal character. Intellect and
excellence were held at their proper rate, and re
ceived their due respect. The toAvn Avas as early
as any to insist on a high standard of public-school
education for both sexes.
It is often said that the town meeting educated
the people to self-government; that town meetings
are to liberty what primary schools are to science:
they bring it Avithin the people's reach, they teach
men how to use and how to enjoy it ; and this is
true. But the value of the New England town,
the value of this town, in a most eminent decree
consists in something more than that. This value
is in its personality. It is a being calculated to

ADDRESS. 45
excite the warmest human affection. In those
nations of Europe where the national feeding is the
strongest the Avisest philosophers have observed
and deplored the absence of a local public spirit.
But here the town has always been the object of
love and pride. The people of Concord cared for
its honor and dignity as for that of their own
household. In the days which some of us can
remember the advent of a stranger put the town
on its hospitality. If Kossuth or Lafayette Avere
coming here, or our famous anniversary were to
bring throngs of strangers., every individual felt
a personal responsibility. In the great public
charities for Greece, or for Ireland, or Hungary,
or Kansas, Concord must not be suffered to be
behind any other town, in proportion to her ability.
The morals and manners of the people were pure
and clean. I do not remember that there has ever
been a murder or a social scandal, and scarcely one
of the greater crimes. There was little of austerity
in the life of the people. The farmers led happy
and honest lives. The ever-old, ever-new romance
of life went on. Lovers wooed and maidens were
won. Children were born, and old age passed to
the tomb. Our clergymen taught a rational and
cheerful faith. Our fathers ancl mothers took into
their own nature the peace of this beautiful land
scape of river and meadow, and put of their own
nature into the landscape.
Above all, while, like their fellow-men the round
world over, they belonged to this world into which
they were born, were no ascetics, took as they came
the duties ancl the enjoyments and the trials of life,

46 CONCORD CELEBRATION.
they held to a very sincere religious faith in a
supreme law of duty, and in a personal immortality.
They believed in a future life, which just men were
to enjoy with those they had loved here. The
children laid their parents to sleep as those who
were to aAvaken again. The Avife parted from her
husband, expecting to see his face after a time.
The mother who lost her child believed that its
tiny fingers should curl once more about her OAvn.
It was this hope's perpetual breath from which
alone came to them, as to all healthy human
society, every gift of noblest origin.
It is often said that these democracies, with their
political and social dead level, may do very well for
mankind in a condition of coarse and comfortable
mediocrity. Men may eat and drink and die in
them, with a certain gross physical contentment.
But for letters and art, for the greater and nobler
quality of chivalry and genius, for the respect due
to authority, especially for the beauty ancl orna
ment of noble and gracious manners, we must look
elsewhere. You need a throne, the fountain of
honor, hereditary wealth, feeder of the arts which
ennoble and beautify life, great old houses and
family names, and old household gardens, for the
rare plants of courtesy and high breeding to mature
and blossom. Let us see. I think Ave need not
altogether blush for our old Concord when these
things are spoken of.
We shall perhaps find that the men who have
come out from our farm-houses have been as readv
for the great self-sacrifices of life; that country,
honor, duty, have had a meaning for them also,

ADDRESS. 47
as for any Plantagenet or Howard. But how is it
in respect of courtesy and good manners, not now
using the Avords in their largest and best sense of
manifestation of true kindness, but as denoting
that beauty and grace of conduct and behavior
that mark the gentleman and gentlewoman? I
suppose perfect specimens of these manners are
rare everywhere. Every generation speaks of
them as gentlemen of the old school, each thereby
confessing that it has not many of them to show
of its own. How will the proportion of them here
compare with that in other forms of society? I
have been in my time a pretty diligent and hungry
reader of the memoirs of Englishmen of rank and
fame, illustrious in church or state, in law or let
ters. I confess I do not find many traces of such
characters there. If English fiction, from Fielding
and Smollett, down to Dickens and Thackeray and
Trollope, draw a true portraiture, I should be sorry
to have sent our young farmers to learn the graces
of life from the gentlemen they describe.
There are many persons in this audience who
remember the simple and grave courtesy of Nathan
Brooks. Your elders have not forgotten another
Concord man, — him of whom Emerson said that, "if
one had met him in a cabin or forest, he must still
seem a public man, answering as sovereign state to
sovereign state; and might easily suggest Milton's
picture of John Bradshaw, — that " he was a consul
from Avhom the fasces did not depart with the year,
but in private seemed ever sitting in judgment on
kings; " and "that he returned from courts or con
gresses to sit down, with unaltered humility, in the

4$ CONCORD CELEBRATION.
church or in the town-house, on the plain wooden
bench, where Honor came and sat down beside
him." To meet Emerson himself Avas as if you
had encountered one fresh from the council of the
Greek Olympus. These men were not accidents.
They Avere representatives — the best representa
tives perhaps, but still representatives — of a people
from which they and their ancestors sprang, from
which they derived their education, and in which
they found example, guidance, and companionship.
If it had been necessary for our little democracy
to establish its own relations with any throne or
court, it would not have lacked ambassadors; and
it would have had. no occasion to be ashamed of
them. For how many centuries has the world been
moved to admiration and tears by the story of
Sir Philip Sidney, the bright, consummate flower
of English chivalry, who gave the cup of water,
offered to his own dying lips to his dying comrade!
It is the one story which brings the age of chivalry
home to the apprehension of mankind. Yet, cer
tainly, we should all of us have thought the action
perfectly natural to George Prescott.
Concord was among the very earliest towns to
provide a liberal education in classics and mathe
matics both in public and private schools. Both
sexes pursued these studies together, ancl certainlv
for all the time for which I can speak, the girls
were at the head ofthe classes. When the United
States Centennial Committee, in 1876, desired that
the biography of a woman from each of the old thir
teen States should be written, to exhibit the highest

ADDRESS. 49
attainment of American womanhood for the first
century of our national life, Sarah Ripley, a Con
cord woman by marriage and adoption, was selected
as the representative of Massachusetts. She Avas
one of the best scholars in the country in classics, in
mathematics, in modern literature, English and
Continental, and in natural history. She con
ducted some of her pupils through the entire col
lege curriculum. Mr. Everett said of her that
she Avas qualified to fill any professor's chair at
Haiward. Rarely was a brighter or profounder
intellect; never a sweeter or more gracious
presence. Tell me, tell me, hare ye known
Household charm more sweetly rare,
Grace of woman ampler blown,
Modesty more debonair,
Younger heart with wit full grown '<
Native to famous wits,
Or hospitable, in her sweet recess,
Concord is known by her contribution to litera
ture wherever the English language is spoken.
The battle-ground itself has added glory in the
eyes ofthe pilgrim, that it is hard by the home of
Hawthorne. Our cemetery is not more hallowed
by the sacred dust it preserves than by Mr. Chan-
ning's ode 'for its dedication, fit to be ranked with
Sir John Davies' Poem of the Soul.
Rather to those ascents of being turn
Where a ne'er setting sun illumes the year
Eternal, and the incessant watch-fires burn
Of unspent holiness and goodness clear.
Thoreau found in our woods the material for his
reports of the habits of all animate and inanimate

50 CONCORD CELEBRATION.
nature, which are to those which science had given
us before as the human character of a poet to the
same man as described by an anatomist. Emerson,
who held the loftiest place in literature of all men
of his time, to whom Concord OAves so much, would
have been first to acknowledge his own debt to her.
The biographer who would describe the " educa
tional and social influences which helped to mould
his character," or the qualities of race he inherited,
has first to understand the character of Concord,
and study the lives of generations of Concord men.
Eminence in the fine arts, for obvious reasons, is
not to be expected of a people situated as Ave were
for our first two hundred years. But it is pleasant
to hear that a young man, descended from that race
of Puritan clergymen who -have so honored the
town in every generation, is taking high rank as a
painter in Paris. When we see, standing by the
North Bridge, One of the very few American
statues that are alive, we are glad to remember
that we had not to go abroad for the sculptor, and
to think that Concord has given proof that the
genius of American Democracy is not incapable of
adding this ornament and beauty also to the State.
In speaking of the tOAVn as a separate municipal
and social life we clo not forget that it is but a
part of a larger life, in which it lives, and moves,
and has its being. The CommonAvealth and the
country surround us like the air. What Avould be
left of Concord, if, inhabited by the same men, and
with all physical conditions unchanged, she had
been other than a Massachusetts town, is harder to
ansAver than Sir Thomas Browne's famous ques-

ADDRESS. 51
tion, — " What song the sirens sang." But she
has given as well as receiArecl. Certainly she has
not failed in her contribution to the glory of Mas
sachusetts in every generation. When it was the
glory of Massachusetts to redeem the continent
from the saA-age, and to found an empire, the men
of Concord led the way into the forest. When it
Avas the glory of Massachusetts to lead in winning
American libert}r from the power of England, it
was a Concord voice that gave the word. When
it Avas the glory of Massachusetts to give to man
kind the example of a model self-governing com-
monAvealth in peace, Concord Avas a model town.
When it was the glory of Massachusetts to adorn
herself with her garland of men of genius, poets,
philosophers, orators, Concord furnished the
brightest flowers in that wreath.
But the test was still to come which should de
termine whether eighty years of peace, whether
church and common school, and town meeting
could train the youth of Concord in the comfort
and luxury of modern homes to a heroism like
that which grew up of old in the forest and in the
Indian, war. On the 19th of April, 1861, on the
old historic day, the first Concord soldiers left
home for the defence of Washington. The town
had already taken an influential part in inaugu
rating the great political revolution which achieved
the freedom of the slave. When the party was
formed in 1848 to prevent the extension of slavery
'into the territories, the call issued from Concord; a
Concord man presided at its first State convention,
and, by a singular coincidence, natives of Concord

52 CONCORD CELEBRATION.
presided at its first great meetings in Lowell and
in Worcester, and took a leading part in that in
Boston. The soldiers of Concord went to the war fully
understanding its issues. They knew Avhat they
were fighting for. The spirit of Capt. Charles
Miles of the Revolution, who Avas wounded in the
pursuit of the British, who told Dr. Ripley "that
he went to the services of that day with the same
seriousness and acknowledgment of God that he
cairied to church," Avas still the spirit of the later
generation. What one of them said of their brave
Col. Prescott was true, as a general description,
of all: "A more moral man, or one more likely
to enter the kingdom of heaven, cannot be found
in the army of the Potomac. He did not fight for
glory, honor, or money, but because he thought it
his duty."
I have not the time to enter upon the detail of
that honorable and pathetic history. It is not
necessary. As a son of Concord, there is nothing
I could desire to haAe added to the complete and
noble eloquence Avhich expressed her gratitude to
her soldiers in the recent Avar when the soldiers'
monument was dedicated. The citizens Avho then
uttered the voice of the town were careful to
disclaim any peculiarity or monopoly of merit.
The toAvn furnished more than her quota of
men, her full proportion of all other contribu
tions, and her spirit never flinched or quailed
till the war Avas over. There is uo record of dis
honor. If the people everywhere did as well, her
comfort and contentment, her pride and glory, her

ADDRESS. 53
joy and reward, must be found in the fact that she
was one ofthe earliest examples of that democracy
which at last raised a Avhole people to that " demo
cratic dead level," aye! rather to that living level,
that lofty table-land of patriotism and virtue.
The secret of the history of Concord has been
the connection of her generations with each other.
Each has held by the hand of that which Avent
before it, needing no better examples, seeking no
better teachers. The spirit of the fathers has
descended to the children. The youth of 186.1 felt
the electric thrill from the men of 1635 and the
men of the Revolution.
Our own generation will soon join those whose
deeds we affectionately celebrate, and this as
sembly sleep by the side of the congregations who
listened to the Bulkeleys, to Bliss, to Emerson,
or to Ripley. The hospitable soil which has re
ceived the dust of our fathers is ready to open
for us also. We shall account it one of the chief
blessings and privileges of existence — better than
wealth, better than noble or royal blood — to have
had such men for our ancestors, our kindred, our
neighbors ancl toAvnsmen ; — to have been part of
this pure and beautiful life, sprung from the mar
riage, in these forest glades, of the spirit of religion
and the spirit of liberty.
It is in no temper of vainglory that we would
remember our fathers. It is rather as feeling,
and as handing down to our children, a great bur
den, demanding, when occasions come, great and
strenuous exertions of sacrifice and duty.
Farthest possible from vanity and false pride is

54 CONCORD CELEBRATION.
that temper which the Greek ascribed to his people
" who thought themselves wortlry of great things,
being in truth Avorthy." If our children are to
sustain the great burdens of freedom and self-
government in their turn without dishonor, they
will be helped and strengthened as they remember
that they are of the blood of the invincible men of
old. It may be that the separate municipal and social
life which has given this towm her character and
history is about to come to an end; that this little
river is about to lose itself in the sea; that the
neighboring city Avill overflow her borders, or that
railroad and telegraph and telephone Avill mingle
her elements inextricably Avith the great mass of
American life. I do not belie\re it. I think the
town will preserve for a long and indefinite future
her ancient ancl distinct quality. But however
this shall be, the lives of our fathers will not be
lost. The toAvn will have made her impression
upon America herself. Among the memorable fig
ures in history shall be that of dear, Avise, brave,
tender, gentle old Concord, — she Avho broke the
path into the forest, — she Avho delivered her brave
blow between the eyes of England, — she by whose
fireside the rich and the poor sat together as equals^
— she whose children made her famous by elo
quence, by sculpture, and by song.

THE DINXER. 55
The Exercises ended by the audience singing "America,"
in full chorus.
The procession then re-formed — the several organizations
having partaken of a collation in the Court House while the ad
dresses were made in the hall — and marched to the Agricultural
Building on the Fair Grounds.

The Dinner,
provided by T. D. Cook of Boston, was served in the upper
hall that accommodated over six hundred persons at the tables.
These were arranged acioss the hall with the platform in the
centre facing the length of the tables, eighteen in number. At
the head of each table a member of the Committee sat acting
as a Vice President.
On the platform at the right of the President were seated
Governor Robinson, Senator Hoar, Chaplain Bulkeley, George
William Cuetis, Edwabd W. Emerson, Hapgood Wright and
Eev. H. M. Grout. On the left Hons. James Russell Lowell,
E. R. Hoar, William M. Evarts, George M. Brooks, Rev.
George H. Hosmer, Samuel Hoar and Henry J. Hosmer.
The time taken in seating the large number of ticket hold
ers, many of them ladies, was well occupied iu viewing the elab
orate decorations of the dining hall. These were arranged un
der the direction of Daniel C. French, the artist of the Minute
Man, and were rare and beautiful. The west window, through
which the afternoon sun brought out vividly a striking figure of
the first settler Simon Willard in his quaint puritan costume, was
so well executed that it was hard to believe it was not stained
glass. Shields bearing names held in high honor in the town,
Emerson, Haavthorne, Thoreau, Hoar, Buttrick, Prescott,
Ripley, Bulkeley were interspersed among the flags and ban
ners along the walls. Over the speakers was an artistic design
appropriate to the occasion, and allegorical of the stages of
developement of the town's historj'. Through the open windows
spread out the hills and meadows along the river, glowing with
autumnal color, making within and without "a fair prospect."
At half-past two P. M., the Chief Marshal rapped for
silence, when the Chaplain asked a blessing. Then a half hour
was devoted to an appetizing dinner, and after the coffee was
served and the waiteis had left the hall, the President of the
Day said :

56 CONCORD CELEBRATION.
Concordians, neighbors, friends :
It is ray pleasant duty to invite your attention to this rare feast
of rich eloquence you see spread before you, and like Shakespeare's
receipt for rare cooking "If 'twere done, when 'tis done, then
'twere well it were done quickly," not to detain you by any words
of mine. Except to say (privately in your ear) that if in the excite
ment of such an occasion, there should slip out inadvertently a word
not quite consistent with the well-known modesty and humility so
characteristic of Concord, you will pardon it and receive it in a Pick
wickian sense, and not as sober earnest.
Of course this morning at that public gathering we were on par
ade, and that was something 'entirely different' from this family din
ner. The Orator of the Day told us such a flattering tale that if we
were not plain, common-sense folk, we might be set up with our im
portance, and imagine that Concord was the "hub," that New

thatand believe

"England harbored not her peer."
"The spacious North
Exists to draw her virtues forth."
"Thy summer voice Musketaquid
Repeats the music of the raiu.
They lose their grief who hear his song,
And where he winds is the day of da^."
But this is poetry. The prose fact is that we are,
"Content with these poor fields,
Low, open meads, slender and sluggish streams.
And found a home in haunts which others scorned.
Beneath low hills, in the broad interval
Here in pine houses built . . the farmers dwell.
Traveller to thee, perchance, a tedious road,
Or, it may be, a picture."

aud we are

"Not vain, sour, or frivolous,
Not mad, athirst, or garrulous.
Grave, chaste, contented though retired.'

Introducing the Governor, the presiding officer said :
To-day Concord proposes to be worthy of her name. All is to be
'peace and good will.' Forgetting her old rivalry with Lexington,
she greets the Governor ofuthe State, although he was born there, not
here. Yet, as his mother was a Concord Lady, and he is not respon
sible for the place of his birth, we chiim our share of him. As the
descendant of Dolor Davis, one of our first settlers, and the ancestor
of three Governors of Massachusetts, John Davis, John Davis Long,
and our guest, the present chief magistrate of the commonwealth,
whom I now present to you as most worthy of his line of ancestors
and predecessors, His Excellency,
GEORGE DEXTER ROBINSON.

Governor Robinson's Speech,
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen, Descendants of Old
Concord : There was no strife or rivalry between the people of
Concord and Lexington when danger was in the front. And
never was the question raised as to priority of honor until the
people were born who shouldered no musket in 1775. There
is glory enough for all and each. When we come into the
presence of advanced years, we bow our heads in great respect,
taking up the lesson that comes out of a long and marked life.
So we stand here to-day in the presence of two hundred and
fifty years drawn up to the present hour in the results that are
impressed upon our appreciation now. How happy a thing it
is, and how much of a relief to one who is charged with saying
a few words, that he can come here now and recognize real age.
The Governor has of times to meet with towns that are only one
hundred years old. It is pleasant, too, when we reflect that our
fathers must have foreseen into the future much farther than
we had ever given them credit for. What but the great wisdom
that planted the township here in 1635, what but that rare wis
dom that penetrated what seemed to be beyond human ken,
could have been so considerate as to have caused Governor
Haynes and the general court in 1635 to incorporate this town
right in the month of September, when over nature's fields, the
tints are painted on the autumnal leaf and the rich crops are
ready to drop into the hands of the husband-man ? How beauti
ful it was that they have foreseen (surely we will all believe it
to-day) this beautif ul-beyond-description weather that entrances
us and delights us all ! And they knew that two hundred and
fifty years hence we should sit down under this glorious sun
and clear sky, and think of their bright and glorious deeds.
And it is, too, pleasant that they foresaw it in this year, 1635,
it may be (at any rate we will hope so) this time, when, for
some reason that shall be here and now unexplainable, the
commonwealth should have a chief magistrate who should stand
upon this platform to speak for her, in whose veins should flow
a joint current of blood from Lexington and Concord, uniting
in one grand force the power of patriotic devotion to America.
It is always a pleasure to respond, Mr. President, to the
courtesies of such an occasion as this ; to accept the greeting

58 CONCORD CELEBRATION.
which is extended to our good old State that we love so well,
Wherever the people congregate to consider
THE ANCIENT SETTLEMENT
of our ancient municipalities, wherever from far and near they
gather to talk over the associations of home, to look down into
each others eyes and souls and see all the past, the riches that
are in human nature, wherever they come together and deal
with those things that lie up nearest and dearest to all, there,
surely is the vital spirit of our commonwealth ever present,
finding the best expression of her freedom and her life. It is
like our good old New England festival, celebrated annually in
every home circle, bringing the child and the parent, kith and
kin together, as they live over what is so much a treasure.
No one, except he were of Concord origin, could measure the
satisfaction and the feeling that have filled me yesterday and
to-day. The old streets, the old cemetery, the inscriptions
upon the tombstones, the faces here and now, the lineaments
that stand out before me, telling of ancestors that I knew a few
years ago, all these come up to intensify my delight and to
strengthen my impressions. Indeed, my recollection takes me
back (I dare to say it) upwards of forty years, when as a boy, I
knew the ways, and the hills and the vales, and the streams of
this town. I was associated with many that have remained
here and others that are gone, and I knew all the choice, and
sweet, and sacred spots. The old river was not unfamiliar. I
wandered up and down its banks many a time, and, judging by
results, I can assure you that the same fish swim there to-day
that were there on those occasions, for I never had any success
at all in tempting them to yield to my offerings.
The earliest settlers, we must believe could not have fully
anticipated what has resulted. They worked with the highest
ideal in view, but we can hardly fancy that the men who
founded this town in 1635 saw with unerring certainty that
would fall here the signal distinction that came in 1775. Patri
otism was not confined to this town. It spread everywhere.
There were other hills, and other rivers, and other bridges,
and other ways; and none but divine knowledge could have
known that it would come here by this stream, in this town of
Concord. It is not the old North bridge that makes this town
of Concord justly famous. Down through the Locrian moun-

THE GOVERNOR' S SPEECH. 59
tains ran the defile of Thermopylae. It would have remained
unknown in history, without even a mention of recognition had
not three hundred brave souls gone down there for Lacedasmon's
cause. Bridges everywhere, streams numerous, the North bridge
not significant, but the manhood that stood on the bridge and
stemmed the tide of British aggression and turned back the
onset in victory was peculiar to that time. The old bridge has
disappeared to us; the traveller sees it no more. He loves to
know that its planks have passed into the foundation work of
the platform in the town hall. He knows that the shot was
heard round the world. But more ; the impulse went every
where, and wherever the oppressed recognized it, there came
confidence and courage and encouragement. Our independence
was surely not the work of a year or of a decade. The work,
the process, commenced with the first settlement. More than a
century passed while this movement was proceeding to its un
erring result. The church, the schoolhouse, the town meeting
were educating the people to know, not only that it was their
right to be free, but were inspiring them with the heroism that
would dare, in the future, to declare that independence. So
surely, under God's providence, was the power implanted in
the people that should strike down oppression. Said the great
inventor Stephenson, to the dean of Westminster, "What
impels that locomotive engine?" "Why, sir, steam of course."
"No," said Stephenson, "It is the sunbeam God sent into the
flowers." The great drama was prepared and rehearsed in
Concord from 1635 to 1775, and then the first act was opened
here in the presence and with the knowledge of the civilized
world, and the curtain was not rung down at the close until
Yorktown came and America was free forever.
Standing here to-day, we may look with trembling and
anxiety in our imaginings of what the future shall be. We
can safely trust the past. We know that in the early days
Congress sat here, choosing John Hancock to the presidency.
We do not fail to remember that Harvard College for a time
found its home in this town. And though it may be that in
the later years Harvard has gone to her permanent establish
ment in the city where she was first located, yet, wherever
literature, and science, and statemanship, and poetry, and ro
mance, and philosophy are considered, there shall be told

60 CONCORD CELEBRATION.
THE NAME OF CONCOED.
And though Congress comes no longer here, Concord's sons are
in the great Congress of the nation, expressing her intelligence
and her power. If it be so in the future, we need have no
anxiety or apprehension for what shall come.
"We can bear to the future,
No greater than to us the past hath brought;
Faith to the lowliest duty,
Truth to the loftiest thought."
And as we look back only a few years — as we look back to
the work that was done from 1861 to 1885, when we see that
Concord blood and Concord courage and Concord patriotism
failed not then in the nation's emergency, we know that, what
ever may betide, so long as the schoolhouse, the church, and
religion and integrity shall stand, there shall yet be a Grand
Army of the Republic that will take care that the nation shall
live. Now, the strength of this community, in my judgment,
has resided in the strength of the people individually. There
is the secret of power. And this town is strong, because it
maintains with jealous care its original methods and ways.
Honesty in public affairs, decency in public and private life,
good, open hearted manhood and womanhood are not out of
fashion in Concord. And so long as you keep those powers in
the majority, so long the influence that shall go out from here
will be immeasurable. Concord will retain the greater strength
the longer she remains a town. It may be fashionable to court
the ways and methods of a city, but, bear with me, the true,
underlying principle that holds our government firmly is self-
control, and there is no better democracy under God's sun than
that found in the New England town meeting, where each man
meets his fellow, exchanges his thoughts, and puts his voice and
his vote on the side with his judgment. Knowing that you are
all far advanced in years to-day, and that you tire more easily
than you would have two hundred and fifty years ago, I must for
bear to vex your ears and weary your patience longer. There are
gentlemen that have not only entranced America, but the whole
world. We welcome them here — you, Mr. President, only for
Concord — I, for Massachusetts, and I speak out of the impulse

JUDGE HOAR'S REMARKS. 61
of the generosity, not only of two towns that I always carry
with me but the whole commonwealth that for the time being is
intrusted to my care. Though we will not be at the next
quarter-millenium we may, perhaps, keep our influence strong,
so that the town shall be here, and so that the state may then
come up here with as just pride as she comes now to give the
happiest greeting and to express satisfaction at the accomplish
ments ofthe past.
The President :
There is one presence here, without which no Concord celebra
tion could be complete. He has carried this town on his shoulders
for more thau a generation. He has honored it, and every station to
which he has been called, — at the bar, 011 the bench, in Congress, in
the Cabinet and in the diplomatic commission. At home his influ
ence has been such that it has been irreverently said, that when he
snuffed all Concord sneezed. Be that as it may, when he speaks all
Concord delights to listen. Perhaps he will tell us something he re
members of our second Centennial, fifty years ago, our Judge,
EBENEZEK ROCKWOOD HOAR.

Judge Hoar's Remarks,
Mr. President, such an introduction is unkind of you, but
I will not allow any feeling of unkindness to enter my mind
upon this occasion. I think it is undoubtedly true that most
of the Concord people present would have a little doubt of the
identity of the town, on any public occasion, if they did not
have a little dreary talk from me. To-day I have neither of the
qualities which make a public speaker. The first quality of a
public speaker is legs, and mine are sadly deficient. The
other is that he shall have something to say, and in that I am
totally deficient, except that the President has expressed a
wish that I should say something to you about our second Cen
tennial, and with that wish I will endeavor to comply. I was
present at the celebration of the two hundredth anniversary of the
settlement of the town. I had recently graduated from college
and was remaining in Concord, a week, to attend that celebra
tion, before I should enter upon my life's work by commencing
it as a school-master in western Pennsylvania. I remember very
distinctly all that occurred then, and the Concord that was then

eg CONCORD CELEBRATION.
here. I belong, I think, in some degree, to the Concord of the
minister and the meeting house, the Concord all of whose citi
zens were of the same race and generally of the same way of
thinking, except as their judgments might differ at times on
public questions ; and there has been a very great change since
that time. I am inclined to think, however, with the Orator of
the Day, that the digestion of Concord is equal to the meal
which has been laid before it.
There have been two great influences at work upon our
town during the last fifty years. One is the railroad. This
influence has been not only that which the enterprise itself has
exerted upon the town, but it has also been felt in the persons
of the poor men who came here to aid in the construction of
the railroad, who were obliged to work at starvation wages,
and who were received with such an unbounded hospitality and
compassion by our people, that great numbers of them were
induced to settle here. It is probable that our population now
includes 1000 or 1500 of that race, who by reason of the edu
cation received in our common schools and through the asso
ciations existing between them and the old inhabitants, are fast
becoming valuable members of our community.
That railroad had another effect. It made Concord nearer
to Boston. Well, that to some extent, might he considered an
advantage, because it afforded people a rather more rapid
means of reaching here than they had before enjoyed. But it
had the tendency to attract to our town persons who merely
came here as to a pleasant place in which to live, — whose con
cerns were elsewhere, and whose amusements, associations, and
friends, were very largely in the city. I do not think that was
an advantage to Concord and it is one of the things we need to
consider. The Concord that I knew in my boyhood was an extremely
self-respecting community, We thought that it would do just
as much good to the people of the city, or of anywhere else, to
know what we thought, as for us to know what they thought-
And, as I remember the collection of our substantial citizens,
at the post office in the morning, and their comment and con
versation on public affairs, I find that trait very conspicuously
present, as it had been all through the town's history. I re
member an excellent Democratic selectman of this town, who

JUDGE HOAR'S REMARKS. 6S
went to Washington for the first time, and who had great re- _
spect for the country and its government and the members of
Congress. He also had some respect for himself, and was ac
customed to be treated with respect by others. When he returned
from Washington, he said he was shocked with the actions of
the members of Congress. "Why," said he "they came into
the hotel where I put up, they went up to the bar, they drank
and they sieore right before me." Now that is a thorough spe
cimen of a Concord quality which I value, and which I should
like to preserve and perpetuate.
I hope that we are not going to become a suburb of the
city. We should remember that our part in the state is as im
portant as any- other. In the presence of others, our opinions .
should be expressed with modesty, and caution, and reflection
but still we are entitled to be heard.
The other great influence which has been exerted upon
this town during the last fifty years, is, in my judgment, the
presence of Mr. Emerson as a resident in it. Yet, while we
know that his presence has been the education of the town,
while we know that he has been the inspirer of the town on all
occasions no less than his grandfather, who saw the fight from
the North Bridge, while we know that in every struggle for
freedom, for education, or for any other good cause he has
always been found in the front of the battle as our leader, —
still, that has not been without its disadvantages ; for I think
the presence of Mr. Emerson has not been wholly serviceable,
as perhaps no good gift of God ever is. He brought, and his
fame has tended somewhat to bring to our town what has been
called his -'menagerie ;" andt o a quiet Concord person of the
plain old-fashioned type, the presence, frequently grotesque, is
not always absolutely admirable. Undoubtedly Mr. Emerson,
who was one of our most hospitable citizens and one of the
most attractive of men, has brought here many worthy and ex
cellent persons who shared his spirit and his purpose. But
also we have had all manner of imitators ; and occasionally a
Concord person, when he is away from home hears scoffing
remarks made by people who do not consider that we are re
sponsible for neither the Reformatory at one end of the town,
nor for all the attendants at the School of Philosophy at the
other.

64 CONCORD CELEBRATION.
I am going to mention two things which I think are credit
able to the town and the benefit of which I like to extend to
our neighbors whenever possible ; and I think of them, because
we are entitled to do so with complacency.
One thing, is the example which Concord has set to other
towns,— -and to the cities, — -as regards the non-partisan admin
istration of town affairs. I think we are partly indebted to the
anti-slavery movement for this. There was in this town, in
1848, while the old Whig and Democratic party existed, the
Free-Soil movement, which was composed of a part of each of
these other parties ; and the three parties were frequently about
equally balanced in the town. The result was, that we set
about having no political division in regard to our town affairs ;
and from 1848 up to the present time, — whde before that date,
we used to have just as hard a contest in the election of a
selectman as we would were we electing a president of the
United States, and about as bitter a one sometimes, — we have
not had any division, and have elected our town officers quietly
taking the best of our citizens for them that we could get to
serve, and always taking care to have the minority represented
as far as they had any political duties. I think that this is
something which the cities and any other towns that have not
done the same thing should do. I hope a great many Massa
chusetts towns have done so.
Then there is one other debt which the countiy owes to
Concord, which is entitled to recognition, and which is of a
practical character. There are two bunches of Concord grapes.
(Exhibiting the bunches.) That is what it can do when it tries
(exhibiting a very handsome bunch) and very abundantly it
does when it goes into other parts of the country. That grape
was originated by the experiments of a citizen of Concord, Mr.
Bull, and it has extended from North Carolina to the Pacific,
all over the northern section of the country, and a friend of
mine found it on the table of a hotel in northern Italy where
the phylloxera had spoiled the native grape. The Concord
grape, is perhaps the greatest horticultural benefit that has
been conferred on the country during these fifty years. Having
shown you the grape as it ought to be seen, and as it appears
when it tries what it can do, I will say that there are a couple
of bunches (exhibiting a smaller specimen than the last) which

MR. LOWELL'S SPEECH. 65
grew7 on the original vine, which still stands in bearing condi
tion, though in bad shape, owing to the fact that so many cut
tings have been made from it for propagation.
I think that our people have kept quietly about their busi
ness, have endeavored to make the world better, and are to be
commended for that: ancl it shocks our modesty to be com
mended for anything else than good intentions and a faithful
performance of what we can find to do.
The President :
Poeta nascitur non fit. But if ever there was a fit, it was when
our genuine Yankee poet went ambassador to England. More than a
century ago, there was an unpleasantness here with some English
men, some traditions and memorials of which still exist in our vil
lage. The memory of this was so strong in my boyhood, that when a
military company in scarlet uniform came to this town on a tour of
duty, the leading citizens held a conference to secure them from in
sult, so great was the feeling of hatred at the sight of a red coat.
We have got over all that now, especially since we got so much the
better of the English through our minister to London, who could teach
them their own literature, who could eulogize their own poets and
more eloquently use their own language, and who accomplished what
we all hope and what I think we shall find to be the case; namely that
the Puritan came out ahead to-day and always.
We congratulate that gentleman, our guest, on his successful
mission, and we fondly hope that in his great renown he will spare
us a little leaf of his laurels, in memory of his youthful residence and
of Concord Bridge and John Bull's run. Indeed, we almost dare to
think his victory over England was in part owing to his early reading
and fine rendering of the old fight — that he knew
"What earthquake rifts would shoot ancl run
World-wide from that short April fray."
JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL.

Mr. Lowell's Speech,
Mr. President, your Excellency, Ladies and Gentlemen: —
Although Governor Robinson supposed so much of fore
sight in the men of 1635 as to have credited them with foresee
ing us sitting here at these tables, yet had they done so, they
would never have foreseen me making a speech here on this
occasion ; for I came over here under a misapprehension. I was

66 CONCORD CELEBRATION.
misled by my clear old friend on my left (turning to Judge
Hoar) into the supposition that nothing would be expected of
me. He now tells me that what he meant was, that I should
not be expected to deliver a poem, as if I kept poetry always on
tap. Ifl had known what was expected of me, if I had known
that there would be so much eloquence in addition to the ad
mirable oratior, we have heard this morning, I should have
come with a pocket-full of impromptus; but as it is, you will
get rid of me sooner than you might otherwise have reasonably
expected. I am reminded in rising here of an adventure which connects
me with the town of Concord ; for being neither a Lexington
nor a Concord man, I am in some doubt under what title I ap
pear here to-day. I am not an adopted son of Concord. I
cannot call myself that. But I can say, perhaps, that under
the old fashion which still existed when I was young, I was
"bound out" to Concord for a period of time ; and I must say
that she treated me very kindly. In other words, I was, during
a period of my senior year in college, forty-seven years ago,
rusticated in Concord. I look back upon it as one of the most
fortunate events of my life. I am quite serious in s.iying so.
I then, for the first time, made the acquaintance of Mr. Emer
son, of whom Judge Hoar has so fitly spoken ; ancl I still recall
with a kind of pathos, as Dante did that of his old teacher
Brunetto Latini, "La cara e buona imagine paterna,"' "The dear
and good paternal image," which he showed me here ; and I can
also finish the quotation and say "Aud shows me how man
makes himself eternal." I remember he was so kind to me — I,
rather a flighty and exceedingly youthful boy, — as to take
me with him on some of his walks, particularly a walk to the
Cliffs which I shall never forget. And perhaps this feeling of
gratitude which I have to Concord gives me some sort of claim
to appear here to-day.
But I can easily find another one. Although the orator
dwelt to-day in perfectly fitting terms on the deliberate courage
of the men who marched clown to the Bridge, and although I
was particularly struck with what he said of one of them, —
that is, that he said that he went into battle as he went to
church, — I could not help thinking of the motto of our State,
which, omitting the minatory half of the quotation, shows that

MR. LOWELL'S SPEECH. 67
our ancestors made war only (considering war in itself a bad
thing) to attain a specific object, and, that that object attained,
were willing to sit down under their own grape and fig tree;
and finer grapes, 1 may say, have never been grown. You re
member the motto, ''Ense petit placidam sub libertate quietem."
It is familiar to you all. But it has always struck me that
they ortiitted the "Manus hoec inimica tyrannis," which consti
tutes the threat. Although the men who went down to that
bridge that morning, as Mr. Hoar told us to-day, went there, as
he thinks, with a more far reaching purpose in their minds and
with more preparation than some of us would be willing to
allow, yet certainly the results that flowed from that day were
more momentous than anybody could have expected. What
was said by one of the chiefs on that day (I believe it is dis
puted which), "that no man has a right to stop us from march
ing across our own bridge," I think is as good a declaration of
independence as I ever heard; but whether the men who marched
on to that bridge knew where it was leading them, I think is
questionable. It was over that bridge that the town meeting,
that democracy, in short, in its purest and most beautiful form,
marched on to the field of cosmopolitan politics. It was a most
eventful day.
But one title I have, perhaps, for saying a few words to
you to-day ; and that is, the connection which Concord has .with
literature no less than it has with political history. I do not
believe it ever happened to any other town so small as this to
have living in it as contemporaries three such men as Emerson,
Hawthorne, and Thoreau. It is a most remarkable fact. And
if the first shot fired here at Concord was the first one of the
struggle for political independence, so the first of those three
men, more than any other, more than all others put together,
wrought our intellectual independence. With him we may truly
be said to have first ceased to be provincial. This was a wonderful
achievement for one man. Then the second, Hawthorne. You
would think me extravagant, I fear, if I said how highly I rate
the genius of Hawthorne in the history of literature. But at
any rate, Hawthorne taught us one great and needful lesson ;
and that is, that our own past was an ample storehouse for the
highest works of imagination or fancy. That also, was a very
great gain. And I think that we are indebted to Mr. Thoreau,

68 CONCORD CELEBRATION.
the third of the three, for another lesson, almost as important ;
and that is, that Nature is as friendly, as inspiring here as in
Wordsworth's country, or anywhere else. We owe, therefore,
a very great debt, as it seems to me to these three men. And
if we have stars enough, which I think perhaps is doubtful, for
so great a constellation as that of Orion, I cannot help fancying
to myself these three as those eminent stars in his belt. I was
going to tell you when I was led off on another track, that, in
rising to-day, I could not help being reminded of one of my
adventures with my excellent tutor when I was here in Concord.
I was obliged to rend with him "Locke* on the Human Under
standing." My tutor was a great admirer of Locke, and thought
that he was the greatest Englishman that ever lived, and nothing
pleased him more, consequently, than now and then to cross
swords with Locke in argument. I was not slow, you may
imagine, to encourage him in this laudable enterprise. When
ever a question arose between my tutor and Locke, I always
took Locke's side. I remember on one occasion, although I
cannot now recall the exact passage in Locke, — it was some
thing about continuity of ideas, — my excellent tutor told me
that in that case Locke was quite mistaken in his views. My
tutor said, "For instance Locke says that the mind is never
without an idea ; now I am conscious frequently that my mind
is entirely without any idea at all." And I must confess that
that anecdote came vividly to my mind when I got up on what
Judge Hoar has justly characterized as the most important part
of an orator's person.
I am glad to be here for one other reason, which you will
allow me to suggest before I sit down ; and that is, because it
is good to come back here and re-temper one's self in this pure
spring of American democracy. I find it, — I won't say a very
good tonic, for I didn't need its tonic, — but I have found it
exceedingly refreshing and exceedingly encouraging, I must
say, for all the world, as well as for us. I am glad to be here
to-day, also for another reason still ; and that is, that I most
heartily approve of every occasion which tends to keep united
that thread of historic continuity, which is as important among
nations as it is among families. I think what Senator Hoar
said this morning, about Concord having a character and phy
siognomy of its own, is eminently true; aud it is of the highest

DR. GROUT'S ADDRESS. 69
importance that the traditions of such a character and physiog
nomy should be maintained. For, if noblesse oblige, certain it
is that a town which has done great things or a family that has
done gi-e.it things will be more likely to do great things or to
produce men that will do them in the future. Therefore, I am
very glad to be here to-day on such an occasion as this which
renews and keeps alive the memory of Concord's historic past.
For, it' the scientific men are right (and I think that more and
more people are inclined to agree with them as the years go on),
the past of a man or of a family, or of a nation is of vastly
more importance lhau was formerly supposed, — it is of much
more importance, perhaps, than the present, and certainly is the
indicator of the controlling force, if not the controlling force
itself, which will shape their future. , I am much obliged to you,
Mr. President, for the kind words which you were good enough
to apply to me, and thank you all for having listened to rae
longer than I expected I should speak when I rose.
The President ;
It was stated before a committee of the last Legislature that in
Concord all the best people stayed away from church. This is a
modern invention and would have surprised our Fathers even more
than telegraphs or telephones. They kept up the union of the town
and parish, church and state, for almost two centuries, until about
fifty years ago, a second parish was formed here, and now we have
five or six churches: pretty well for a nora-church-going town. Perhaps
our oldest settled minister will tell us how it is in the churches.
The Reverend Doctor HENRY MARTYN GROUT.

Dr. Grout's Address,
Mr. President :
Your call upon the oldest settled minister in the town must
be on account of his extreme age. You have probably assumed
that the memory of so old a man would run further back toward
the beginnings of things than that of his youthful brethren
here. But you will be patient with him, I trust, if, bearing in
mind the tendency of time to impair this faculty, he should
venture to rely only in part upon personal recollections of the
far off first days.

70 CONCORD CELEBRATION.
Soberly speaking, however, I am most happy, if my voice;.
is to be heard at all on this occasion, that I am permitted to
speak some words respecting the town and the church. It was
the church in one of its branches, which bi-ought me to the town.
Further, it has a warm place in my heart. I believe in it — as
I suspect the best people all still do. My words concerning it
could not be otherwise than sincere. And as these other more
distinguished gentlemen furnish ample wit for the hour, you
will expect me to fill in the solemn discourse.
Permit me then, Mr. President, to begin with claiming for
the church a considerable credit for this celebration itself. For
you have no doubt meditated upon the fact that, but for it,
there would have been no Concord to keep this grateful anni
versary. Was it not the vision of a church, and of such a
church as they came to plant, which brought the founders of
our town hither? Was it not this which sustained them in the
hardships of the first years ? New Englandjiistory has made
this very plain. The reason they themselves gave for coming to
these shores was "the great hope and inward zeal they had of
laying some good foundation for propagating and advancing
the kingdom of Christ in these remote parts of the world."
This was their motive. This was their purpose. Other parts
of this western world were colonized by adventurers, who came
for conquest and plunder, for empire and spoil. The fathers,
who came hither, were of a different mould. They came from
a religious impulse. Is it not clear that but for the church,
this goodly town would never hove been? We should not hare
been here. And so the wit and wisdom and rejoicings of this
occasion would have been lost. You see I begin with a very
large claim: it is one, however, which you will no doubt be
happy to concede.
But this is not the only reason for a grateful remembrance
ofthe church to-day. There is the debt the town owes to it for
no small share of its fair fame. And this is so great as to
merit particular mention. Concord has always stood well in
the state. Almost always she has had something to draw the
world's attention this way. And never has the church been
quite outside the circle of its attractions. For two hundred
years she was their centre.

DR. GROUT'S ADDRESS. 71
The literary work of the town began with its first minister.
1 have no doubt, Mr. President, you have often read, ancl owe
not a few of your distinguished virtues, including your excellent
church-going habits, to Rev. Peter Bulkelcy's "Judicious and
Savory Treatise on the Gospel Covenant ;'' one of the very first
books written in America, and still a cherished treasure on the
shelves of our Public Library. Mr. Bulkeley had also, we are
told, "a competently Good Stroke at Latin Poetry:" ancl only
the other day I fell upon two and a half octavo pages of Eng
lish verse ascribed to his pen.
It was thus that the literaiy fame of the town began.
And nearly all of Mr. Bulkeley's successors did something to
sustain it. You know with what envious eyes Boston looked
upon Mr. Estabrook, thinking him "too bright a star 10 be
muffled up in the woods amongst the Indians." You are also
familiar with Mr. Whitefield's extravagant praise of Mr. Bliss ;
"If I had studied my whole life-time I could not have produced
such a sermon." The names of Rev. William Emerson, grand
father of the sage and the seer, and Dr. Ripley, connecting
links between the old times and the new, are household words.
You know what they were and what they did. For two cen
turies the literary work of the town was nearly all done by its
ministers. No doubt the same was true elsewhere. The min
isters were the educated men, and about the only ones, of those
times. And the credit of their learning is due to the spirit of
the churches, which required this of their leaders and teachers.
Then I may be permitted to hint, and this is all I shall
venture to do, at what the men of these last fifty years, of
whose genius and fame we are proud, may have felt to be
their indebtedness to the church. We all know through what
a line of noble Christian ministers the blood which fed the
brain of Mr. Emerson had coursed. Mr. Hawthorne was cer
tainly not unfamiliar with the deepest thought ofthe church.
And it was after his genius was well developed and properly
shaped that Mr. Thoreau left the old First Church for that of
the "Sunday Walkers." As for our schools, the ministers
always had a hand in their management. And the lecturers of
the Lyceum, we are told, addressed themselves in the early
days to Dr. Ripley, as they have since to most of his success
ors. It has been said that the Transcendental movement re-

W i CONCORD CELEBRATION.
ceived one of its impulses from the high Calvinism of the
church which went before it. So much for the fair fame of the
town. If now, we may pass to the good things of the present, to
the means of enjoyment and improvement which are to-day
ours, I think we shall be able to see that for these too, the
town owes something, more perhaps than some have considered,
to the church. Take the material wealth which both marks and
contributes to our weal. It is a matter of just pride with us
that, besides our cultivated fields, we have convenient houses*
good roads, some stone bridges, with school houses and a town
hall, ancl public library, and studio of art, ancl School of Phil
osophy, — not to claim the State Reformatory as our own. Good
things, one and all. And it would not be just to forget, on
this high occasion, the close link there is between these and the
work of the church.
The fathers, we have said, came hither with a single aim.
And that was neither money , nor possessions of any material
kind. It was quite other and nobler than that. Said Epicte-
tus ; "You will confer the greatest benefit on your community,
not by raising the roofs, but by exalting the souls of your fel
low-citizens." The fathers came to do just that. And so,
when they had dug a temporary shelter in the side of the hill,
they straightway built the place for worship. Then, they
planned for the school, and joined hands with others in the be
ginnings of a college. It was religion, manhood, intelligence,
character, personal worth, on which their eyes were fixed. Thev
cared little for wealth ; luxuries they had willingly left behind.
But for duty, an approving conscience, and "the glorious ordi
nance of God," they cared much. And of this spirit and aim
and life the church was the recognized centre.
Now, given such a spirit and such principles, there could
not fail to come succeeding generations possessed of qualities
that should make growth and prosperity, as well as exalted
manhood sure. Linger at this point just a moment Ours is a
fairly wealthy community: that is, there is not only wealth
among us, but it is well distributed. In it all have a good
share. How has this come to pass? Through industry, hon
esty, freedom from extravagance and wasteful vices, present
self-denial, regard for the rights of one another, and interest

DR. GROUT'S DISCOURSE. 7S
for those who are to come after us. How did the people come
by these qualities ? They learned them largely from their re
ligious teachers ; in whose thought the Spelling-book went before
mainly to prepare the way for the Bible and the Catechism;—
to be ignorant of either of which was to be an outside barba
rian. Their virtues came of their religion ; a religion that had
defects, no doubt. It was not gentle. It was not without nar
rowness. It was stern, as indeed most heroic things are. But
it had that main thing, iu devotion to duty and to God, which
is as sure to make a prosperous as it is to make a virtuous and
powerful people.
Is there time for another point ? For there is another, by
no means to be overlooked on this occasion of grateful retro
spection. It was with great self-denial and sacrifice that all
this church planting and building was done bjT the fathers.
But if not to recall this would be injustice to their memories,
still more unjust would it be to suppose that they bore their
hardships either with complaint, or the sour and elongated faces
some have ascribed to them. They did no such thing. On
the other hand, we have good reason to believe that, after the
first dark days were over, they were quite as joyous as we ;
quite as light hearted in joke and story and laughter ; possibly
wth consciences less burdened than some of ours.
Nor were their Sundays the gloomy days some imagine.
They were serious clays, no doubt, with Bible study, and sober
kneeling about the domestic altar ; with quietness in the house,
and stillness without. But they were not for that reason joy
less.- It is the shallow brook that always babbles.
Their church-going, moreover, was no trifling business.
For there was a time when Lincoln and Bedford and Acton and
Carlisle all came to the one Concord Church. Think of their
winter toiling through unbroken snows, some afoot, some on
sleds, some bare-back. Neither were their hardships quite over
when safely within the Sanctuary and becomingly seated ac
cording to dignity or state, — the deacons close up under the
pulpit that they might be "fed on the perpendicular droppings
ofthe Word." With nothing of our modern heating appara
tus, on colder days the minister preached in great coat and
mittens ;

74 CONCORD CELEBRATION.
"While the women, maid and mother,
Passed their stoves to one another,
Those convenient tin arrangements
Made to hold the slumbering coals:
And the male sex, held from napping,
Spent their weary time in rapping,
Rapping their stiff boots together.
Those were times that tried men's soles."
And it may be doubted whether even all these would always
have kept them from freezing, but for supplemental heat
which came of vigorous exercise in hard wrestlings with great
doctrines, as of fate and free-will ; and covenants of grace and
covenants of works ; questions of religion hardly less tough
than those philosophic categories which our friends so easily
handle and elucidate through August heat at our Summer
School. Their's were self-denials and sacrifices of which we know
little. Ancl yet we have no reason to suppose that these heroic
spirits ever thought themselves*hardly used. Who knows that,
were they now able to look in upon our manner of life, they
would not still choose their own ; at least preferring their own
robustness to languor which now reclines on velvet couches, and
even the after thoughts of the ancient Sunday to the memories
of a modern midnight masquerade.
But I keep you from better things. We all agree, I am
sure, that the town and church are closely related ; can never,
in the life we live, be wholly separated. And if we now have
to say churches, instead of church, our needs are all the better
served for that. Our four or five, or — in what was once our
township — our dozen or fifteen, are none too many for the good
people who are likely still to love to come. Moreover, this
multiplication of modes and creeds is only the logical out
come of that great principle the fathers put foremost ; namely,
the right and duty of every man to read the Word and listen to
the Spirit of God for himself, and then worship as his own
conscience bids. It is now enough to hope, and expect that,
as in the past and the present, we may always dwell together,
and do our part in the world's great work, in neighborly friend
ship, in happy concord.
Mr. President, it was Coleridge, I think, who said that the

SENATOR EVART'S SPEECH. 75
secret of true civilization is the union of progress and perma
nence. In religious life and work, as in other things, Concord
seems to have learned this lesson. May she never forget it.
The President : —
Speaking of the second centennial of this town, "there were giants
on the earth in those days," and one of them, whose slight figure and
bright, keen look was often seen in our streets, was pointed out to us
boys, as having been "the little giant," of Yale college. He has
changed but slightly with time, for both years and honors have sat
lightly on him ; and if he has grown plethoric of positions, his annual
visits to this scene of his youthful fame have kept him young. With
all his honors at the bar, in the cabinet, on the forum, from his loftiest
place, the Senator of the giant state of the Union, he brings to our
local celebration his proud triumphs so well won with years of toil in
every patriotic purpose. Wo trust that both in the senate and here,
he will kindly hear in mind Shakespeare's
"O, it is excellent
To have a giant's strength, hut it is tyrannous
To use it like a giant;"
and not cap the quotation with anything about ''man, dres't in a lit
tle brief authority, playing fantastic tricks before high heaven," hut
will kindly and mercifully tell us some of the many things which
he knows, and which we ought to be told about Concord, in sen
tences not too long for us to remember.
WILLIAM MAXWELL EVARTS.

Senator Evart's Speech.
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen :
I should have felt it not only a right, but in some sense a
duty, to attend upon this celebration, where your distinguished
orator was to have so much of interest to me from our friend
ship and our kinship. But it was a great gratification to me,
Mr. President, to receive from you an invitation, as the guest
of the town, on account of my early associations with your peo
ple and my constant pleasure in the visits that I once in a
while make to them. Concord, to me, is more familiar in what
makes up the delights of boyhood, than to most of you that
have been born or that have lived here, and I go further back

76 CONCORD CELEBRATION.
in my memory than a great part of even you mature men and
women that I see about me. When boys are born in the coun
try and when they have ever before them the delights, the
pleasures, the enjoyments from nature and from play, they
become somewhat confused in' their appreciation, and their
warmth and affection, for they remember a great many labors.
a good many gloomy skies, a great many bleak storms, and
some of the misfortunes, if not even of the calamities, of life.
But to me, as a Boston boy, Concord was all the world in con
trast to the city. And as I never was here except in August,
and perhaps the twelfth day of September I thought the sun
always shone in Concord, though I knew that it did not always
on the seaboard of Boston. The place then, to me, year after
year, before I began to share the acquaintance of distinguished
men here and to learn wisdom which I have never forgotten —
if I have not been able to practice it — was the delight of my
life. And so, in the future, though I have seen pleasant lands
abroad and at home, though I cultivate my own acres that are
broad and, as I think, beautiful, yet to me Concord will always
be the picture of a boy's paradise.
'¦'¦Hie mihi angulus terrae maxime ridet."
Concord was settled less than one hundred and fifty years
after the discovery of America by Columbus. What the world
was waiting for after that great discovery, during the first cen
tury and a half, nobody knew. But when Concord was settled,
it was known that that would have been impossible if America
had not been discovered and, Concord produced, justified Co
lumbus. An orator after dinner is awkwardly situated in Concord.
Where he would please he fails ; for, whatever he may say that
might seem to partake even of flattery is quietly swallowed, as
though his hearers had often thought of it themselves. I have
done nothing of that kind. I have simply stated the historic fact
that America was discovered before Concord. The Indians
were a brief and sententious people, and in a single word in
their language you will find a great length, and breadth, and
depth of meaning. Musketaquid is a pretty long word to begin
with ; and I am enabled now to find in what I see before me
a justification of my own interpretation, justified by my re-

SENATOR EVABT'S SPEECH. 77
searches, that Musketaquid is the Indian name for a town of
brave men, and fair women, and heroes and statesmen, and
orators, and a people that never tires of talking about itself or
hearing itself talked about for two hundred and fifty years.
The governor — who, on several occasions in which I have had
the pleasure of meeting him at dinner, has had the sagacity, if
not the politeness, to leave the building whenever he knew I
was going to rise — said some sensible things, and among others,
that the town and the permanence of the town and persistency
in it was really the fortune, and should be the pride and the
power of a community like this. I had the fortune to be born
in a neighboring town, 1 mean the town of Boston. These
were two great towns, Boston and Concord. It was a long
race. It had lasted for two hundred years and Concord was a
little ahead. Boston saw that. If in a light breeze, Boston
couldn't beat, what could it do when the air was full of blasts ? It
surrendered, gave up the township and tried to make a fortune in
a different direction, as a city. I left Boston myself because it
had not continued a town. I was determined that if I were to
live in a city, which was a misfortune and a disaster, I would
live in one that was big enough — New York — to make some
compensation for it.
My excellent friend and teacher, Judge Hoar, has ven
tured upon some misgivings as to what has taken place already
in Concord, and what might still carry it away from its
proper moorings and swerve it from its true destiny. I see
nothing for distrust in these facts or circumstances which he
has enumerated. My opinion is that every one of you men
and women are wiser and better than the people that preceded
you, and that those that come after you will be wiser and better
than you. This innovation of Boston, — What is that? Con
cord is isolated still ; isolated by its ideas, by its genius, by
its virtue, by its self-esteem which we are told is at the bottom
of all manhood, and has been especially so here for two hundred
and fifty years. What has Concord needed of this access to
the rest of the world ? It was not Concord people that built
the railroad to Boston ; it was Boston people that built the
railroad to Concord. And so the telegraph and telephone are
not to bring to Concord what the rest of the world is doing,
but to carry to the rest of the world what Concord is thinking

78 CONCORD CELEBRATION.
of. I see no occasion for levity, Mr. President. I speak as
near to the truth as it is possible for a new Yorker that once
lived in or frequented Concord to do.
Now, I have divided my time with my predecessors, and I
am going to give to those wdio follow me all the time that they
want. Mr. President, you cautioned me, you implored me,
when you were surrendering a certain measme of strength into
my hands that I would not use it as a giant. That is the only
power that I had. As for this notion of yours about the possi
ble or the probable length of my sentences, this is not the first
time I have had occasion, before an enlightened assembly, to
meet a sneer of that kind by saying that the only people in this
country that were opposed to long sentences, were the criminal
classes. I should have expected a suggestion of that kind, had
I spoken within the ample room of the neighboring state prison.
Well, gentlemen and ladies, after all, there is one grand
cardinal trait in every community, that has had persistency and
history and success. The one word that describes Concord is,
that it was public spirited ; public spirited from the beginning, — -
public spirited whenever that great power was necessary and
useful. It ever gave without asking whether it would receive in
return. It knew that the men and women of Concord were but
a part of the men and women of the community, the neighbor
hood, the State and the Nation. And everywhere and in every
widening sphere of its service, and its duty, public spirit was
large enough to be diffused, and strong enough not to be
weakened by the diffusion. There was no less in the great
struggle that called together this great nation in armies, of
whose members I see here, as in similar gatherings, so many
that we honor and applaud. In that great struggle, Concord
did not extend its patriotism, nor contribute its men or its
treasures for Concord — for it needed neither, — nor for Massa
chusetts, nor for New England, nor for wealth and prosperity
that might have been enjoyed with dishonor, nor for vengeance
in the future. But, as it was the centre of energy, of benevo
lence when, two hundred and fifty years ago, it had nothing
west of it and nothing east of it but the small towns, it was the
same when their country bounded on the two oceans and the
line of English power and Mexican civilization. There is the

JUDGE BROOKS' REMARKS. 79
history of its enterprise. There is the history that transplanted
communities that have grown up all over this great land. The
step that you took from Boston to go West brought you only
to Concord. But the principle that "it is the first step that
costs," has not ceased to be trod by the men of Concord and
their wives out to the Pacific ocean. That is the boundary of
their enterprise because it is the limit of our country.
Now, ladies and gentlemen, scarcely anticipating the
pleasure of joining in another celebration two hundred and fifty
years hence I wish to leave this lesson — what has been done
has been done as well to this time in Concord as was done at
the beginning ; ancl it is a long history and a great fame and a
great duty for the future that will secure to that future that it
shall comport with the past.
The President :
Another of those members of Congress spoken of this morning
has yet to be heard from. Ue has given up politics for the care of the
helpless, widows, orphans and insolvents ! and throws away on them
his wit and talents that used to delight listening courts and legisla
tures. Perhaps he will recall some of his reminiscences of Concord
courts for our benefit. There used to be good stories of them, and
we shall be glad to hear from
GEOBGE MERRICK BROOKS.

Judge Brooks' Remarks,
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen :
Concord in the latter part of the last century and in the
beginning of this, was a leading town in the county, on account
of its population, its wealth and its central position, but prin
cipally because it was one ofthe shire towns of the country.
People seem to have forgotten that fact, and I have not
heard it alluded to by any one to-day. Formerly shire towns
amounted to something : look at an old map of Massachusetts
of a hundred years ago. There you will find, Boston, Salem,
Worcester, Springfield, Cambridge, Concord and other towns
designated by a large star, and they derived their importance

80 CONCORD CELEBRATION.
from the fact that they were shire towns of their respective
counties ; children were taught to give the names of shire towns
as a part of their geographical studies. Now ask a school boy
what Cambridge and Lowell are noted for, he would answeri
Cambridge for its Harvard College, Dane Law School and Mt.
Auburn, — Lowell for its Cotton and Woolen Mills, its Carpet-
factory and Machine shops, its telephone stock and perhaps
Cherry Pectoral ; the fact that they were the shire towns of
Middlesex county would never bethought of by them. I may be
presuming on their ignorance but I doubt if half of the children
know the names of the shire towns of their counties, or the
other half know what a shire town is. Formerly shire towns
were of great importance. My friend, the Orator of the Day,
told us this morning about those sober, steady, God-fearing,
church going and fighting men of former days. We have
heard that they had few holidays and no amusements ; but the
old September Court in Concord was an oasis for them. We
learn from men of the last generation, that at this term of
Court people assembled from all parts of the county to talk
over the affairs of the day, to trade, swap horses and test their
speed by racing up and down the streets ; booths were plentiful
on the common, in front of the church and on the sides of the
streets, where eatables and drinkables were provided for the
hungry and thirsty, the drinkables of such a kind and charac
ter as would gladden the heart and make the fortune of a state
constable of the present day if he had a chance to make a raid
upon them ; in fact tne whole week was given up to such hilar
ity and joviality as our ancestors were capable of.
But to come down to the time within my own recollection,
when the Courts were held in the old white Court House and
still later in the present one, — true, horse racing had been
abolished, the general air of festivity around the town had dis
appeared, and then the delectable beverages that made the
booths attractive, prohibition had banished to the northwest
corner of the basement of the now solitary and deserted Mid
dlesex Hotel. Yet even then there was a good deal of the old
time pomp and dignity that was a remnant of the past. Now
you will see a justice of the Supreme Court jump off a horse
car, and go solitary and alone to the Court house; then when
the bell tolled for the opening of the Court, yon would see the

JUDGE BROOKS' REMARKS. 8t
Judge come out of the front door of the Middlesex, and the
high sheriff with blue coat, brass buttons, buff vest, cockade
in his hat, dress sword at his side and a long pole in his hands
would accompany the Judge to the Court House, followed by
the lawyers, jurymen aud litigants. Then the Concord peo
ple had a sort of proprietary interest in the Courts, solid farm
ers and substantial citizens would attend the session from day
to day not from an idle curiosity, but to hear the able lawyers
ofthe Middlesex bar measure swords in debate ; in short it was
an old-fashioned Summer School. The Court gave a tone and
character and was one of the institutions that gave the town
its importance in the county.
There was another institution in Concord closely connected
with the courts that I must call your attention to. Most of
you (except the younger portion of my hearers) remember the
old white-washed jail, with Jimmie everlastingly drumming on
the steps, and Johnson keeping watch and ward at the gate.
Its plan and management were such as would delight the phil
anthropist or prisoners' friend of the present day. The jail was
not like those of the present day, where the person unjustly
accused of a crime is confined 'in a cell seven by five to await
his trial, and has nothing but his own reflections for company.
The old jail had large, roomy apartments, with windows on
two sides, a bed in each of the four corners, a table in the
middle where tho quartette could spend their time in the se
ductive games of Whist, Hi Lo Jack, or Old Sledge. The
management of the jail was patriarchal and free and easy. The
jailer (whom many of you know) had a good insight of human
nature and knew whom to trust, and he allowed his prisoners
certain privileges that would shock a prison disciplinarian of
the present day. As an instance of this, I was once retained
to defend a man confined in this jail for some offence. I called
to see him to make preparations for his defence, and was told
that he had gone huckleberrying with the children.
A story is told, for the accuracy of which I cannot vouch.
Near the end of one of the June criminal terms the Judge
found that there were three persons remaining lo be tried, and
requested the Sheriff to bring them in. He sent a deputy who
soon returned with the message, that it looked like a shower
and the jailer had them all in tho meadow cocking up hay.

8S CONCORD CELEBRATION.
The Judge then turned to the officer and said, "Mr. Crier,
adjourn the court till Sam has finished his haying."
But we did not have perfect peace in our courts. Lowell
had grown out of all manner of proportion, the population of
the lower part of the county had greatly increased and they
were constantly hectoring us to have the courts removed. True
it was we showed to every legislature that we did more busi
ness than was done in the other towns, that the lawyers worked
all day in the court-house, and spent their evenings in the old
Middlesex preparing their cases for the next day. These argu
ments were convincing, but at the June term 1849, a man
indicted for some offence and out on bail, came to the illogical
conclusion that if there was no court-house he could not be
tried, so he touched a match and the old court-house was soon
in ashes. This was considered by our opponents to be an interposi
tion of Providence in their favor, and they commenced an as
sault along the whole line. They flooded the General Court
with petitions for the removal of the courts from Concord, and
used all the arts known to lobbyists to ensure such removal.
But Concord was equal to the emergency. They chose the
honored father of the orator of the day to represent them in the
General Court, who, although advanced in years yet was in
full possession of his faculties and managed the matter with
great ability in the House. And then that spring wo had the
three-quarter centennial of the Concord fight ; — I suppose the
technical term would be semi-sesqui. And Mr. President, I
may say in passing, that for its size Concord is pretty good on
centennials. Since my boyhood (counting fractions) we had
four centennials, and if I live as long as temperance and a good
conscience will allow me, I expect to witness at least two more.
We invited the legislature to this semi-sesqui, we gave them a
good dinner, oration, poem, speeches, brass band, and all the
accompaniments of a first-class celebration. They went back
much pleased and voted to print the proceedings of the celebra
tion, and gave the petitioners for removing the courts leave to
withdraw. We built the present new court-house, but in 1867
it was thought best for us not to contest longer, and for the
consideration of one dollar all the county property in Concord
was turned over to the town, and good use of it was made, I

LETTERS. 8S
have no doubt. And now my friend, the President of the Day,
as presiding justice of the District Court, keeps the scales on
the court house in due equipoise, tho stones of the old jail
peacefully slumber in the cellars of some of our new houses,
and in place of the jail we have a large pile of bricks in the
west part of the town costing over $1,000,000 — called a Re
formatory, containing two or three hundred reformers, without
the privilege of going out haying or huckleberrying.
And instead of hearing able lawyers discuss the business
actualities of life, those who desire cool intellectual food
in a sweltering July day, will find a modest temple in a quiet,
sequestered nook in the east part of the town, where they can
hear elaborate essays upon the life, times, character, writings
and philosophy of Plato, Kant, Fichte, Hegel and Goethe, and
especially Goethe, and where they can listen to fine-spun meta
physical disquisitions upon the whichness of the why and the
whyness of the what.

Letters,

The President then read the following letter : —
Lowell, Aug. 25, 1885.
To the Selectmen of the town of Concord, Mass :
Gentlemen, — Born in the town of Concord and living there
seventeen years, from 1811 to 1828, and thanking Almighty
God for long life and his great goodness to me, I wish in this
form to give unto others of my fellowmen of Concord, for their
benefit and improvement in the future, the sum of one thous
and dollars ($1000), if the town of Concord will accept the
same upon the following conditions, to wit : The money to be
put on interest for fifty years, till the third centennial year of
the incorporation of the town of Concord, and the interest
added to the principal, either annually or semi-annually until
that time, when all but the original sum of one thousand dol
lars ($1000) shall be expended for the benefit and improvement
of the town or the citizens of Concord, as the voters of the
town may determine by a two-thirds vote of its legal voters in

84 CONCORD CELEBRATION.
town meeting assembled, and if they should not be able to
command a two-thirds vote upon the manner of disposing of
the same when it becomes due, it may be brought forward
and acted upon at future town meetings until disposed of by a
two-thirds vote of the legal voters of the town. The original
one thousaud dollars ($1000) shall again be put at interest as
before described, and at the end of every fifty years thereafter
all but the original principal shall be disposed of in the same
manner as before mentioned. Respectfully yours, Hapgood Weight.
N. B. I should like to have it called "The Hapgood
Wright Semi-Centennial Fund."
The President.
As you are tired of hearing my strained voice, with your permis
sion my son, Mr. Prescott Keyes will read the letters received in reply
to invitations from guests we hoped to have with us to-day. Mr.
Winthrop modestly refrains from mentioning an eloquent speech he
made here fifty years ago, and he is the only speaker of that occasion
now living. How much a speech from him to-day would have added
to the interest of this celebration as connecting it so closely with the
Bi-Centennial. His health does not permit him to be present, and
we have alas, only his letter.
Mr. Prescott Keyes then read the following letters ad
dressed to the Committee on invitations ; —
Brookline, Mass., 21 August, 1885.
Gentlemen : I am honored by your, communication of the
1st instant, inviting me to attend the celebration of the two
hundredth and fiftieth anniversary of the incorporation of Con
cord, as a guest of the town, on the twrelfth of September next.
It would afford me peculiar pleasure to be with you on that
occasion. It was my good fortune to be one of the invited
guests on the two hundredth anniversary celebration on the
twelfth of September, 1835. I was then one of the representa
tives of Boston in the legislature of Massachusetts, but I came
to Concord as an aid-de-camp of Lieutenant Governor Arm
strong, who had become the acting governor of the State by the

LETTERS. SS
election of Governor Davis to the senate of the United States.
It was a most agreeable and notable occasion, and one which I
recall at the end of fifty years, and as, perhaps, the only sur
vivor of the guests of that celebration with no little interest.
The admirable oration, by one who afterwards obtained
such a signal celebrity as the late lamented Ralph Waldo Emer
son, would alone have made the occasion memorable to every
one who was present. The prayer of the aged and venerated
Dr. Ezra Ripley — whose hospitality I had enjoyed at his own
home some years before, in company with my endeared class
mate and chum, Charles Chauncy Emerson — was not less im
pressive. I would gladly renew my association with the scenes and
memories of that clay, but I am constrained to resist the temp
tation, and I must reluctantly decline your invitation.
Concord has a world wide fame. Her earliest annals
abound in channing incidents, of at least one of which, in lfiiS,
my own ancestor was a prominent figure. Her maturer history
includes, with that of Lexington, the first blood of the Revolu
tion. Her later years have been illustrated by the Roman in
tegrity of Samuel Hoar and the eminent abilities and services
of his sons, as well as by the brilliant genius of Hawthorne and
Emerson. No town in our Commonwealth, or on our whole continent,
has stronger claims to a distinguished and grateful remembrance.
Believe me, gentlemen, with sincere thanks for your invita
tion and best wishes for the occasion,
Respectfully and truly your obedient servant,
Robert C. Winthrop .
Plymouth, Aug. 4, 1885.
Gentlemen: I have received with pleasure your cordial
invitation to attend, as a guest of the town, the two hundred and
fiftieth anniversary of the incorporation of Concord on the
twelfth of September. I have delayed my reply in the hope
that I might find it possible to be in Concord that day, and it
is with the greatest regret that I come to the decision that my
duties will compel me to remain here at the time of the festival.
I need not trouble you with the particulars, but I wish to assure

se Concord celebration.
you that nothing but imperative reasons would make me forego
the pleasure of attending the anniversary or the honor of being
one of its public guests. I have always prided myself on the
privilege of being a native of Concord, and cling tenaciously to
everything that gives me a new hold upon my birthright. I
am, therefore, very grateful to you for doing me the honor of
including me among the sons of Concord on this occasion, and
much disappointed that I cannot be your guest.
I remain gentlemen, most truly yours,
William W. Goodwin.
Newport, R. I., Sept. 8, 1885.
My Dear Emerson: I could not receive a more tempting
invitation than you gave me in your letter that reached me
yesterday. You move every fibre of my heart by touching on
the display of the grandest and most effective creative power
of public spirit by rural patriots in private life, and on the
dearest affections of personal friendship. I longed so much to
comply with your invitation that it has taken a few hours re
flection to make me feel that I cannot avail myself of it.
I shall within a few days finish the first quarter of my fifth
score of years, and, in the uncertainty of my ability to bear the
fatigue, feel unwilling to give you the trouble of taking care of
me. But though I cannot come to you on Saturday, pray assure
yourself that I am, and ever shall be, Your faithful friend,
Geo. Bancroft.
Halifax, N. S., Sept, 5 1885.
My Dear Mr. Walcott :
Much to my regret, I find that I cannot reach home in time
to attend the Concord Celebration on the I2th inst. I have had
it it in mind ever since you gave me the kind invitation ; and 1
feel sorely disappointed over the fact. I have been away now
three weeks, and I hope before my return to visit Cape Breton
and Prince Edward Island, which will take another fortnight.
This precludes the possibility of my keeping the engagement

DR. EMERSON S REMARKS. 87
from which I had anticipated a great deal of pleasure. I feel a
deep interest in old Middlesex, and in Concord which stands for
so much in its history — to say nothing of its wider influence
throughout the state and nation— and I deeply regret my in
ability to be present on this interesting occasion.
Yours very truly, Samuel A. Green.
The following telegram from Governor Long president of
the Hingham celebration was read :
Hingham congratulates Concord on the celebration of their com
mon birthday. Hope you will have a good time, sister.
This reply was sent by telegraph.
The low hills to the seashore send greetings and congratulations.
Concord replies to her twin. Many happy returns.
The President.
In Jane 1834, a private school was opened in this town by Wil
liam Whiting who died while Member of Congress from Boston. Thero
were twenty two scholars in the school. Fifty years afterwards, sixteen
of those twenty two were lJVing, and ten of them present ata wedding
in Concord in June 1881. That school attended in a body the Bi
centennial of the Town in 1S35, and listened to the orator of
that day. Whether their continuance in Concord and their longevity
was owing to the inspiration of that occasion, or the doctors of the
town, may be questioned. The son of that orator, aud himself a
doctor will gratify us by speaking of his predecessors and of tha
name he bears.
EDWARD WALDO EMEESOK.

Dr. Emerson's Remarks.
Mr. President:Perhaps the perennial vigor of those who were the young
people here fifty years ago, which you Sir, for our good fortune,
happily demonstrate, was due to the fact that Concord's old
fashioned doctors seldom prescribed a change of air.
At your bidding, Sir, I have for the moment put off the

8S CONCORD CELEBRATION.
uniform of a vei'y independent company^ which parades with
two old brass guns, — you set me the example years ago — guns
which we hope are not thorns in the side of our honored guests
the Commander-in-Chief and Adjutant-General, — and come
here to answer for the old Doctors of Concord. Having myself
half turned my back on the healing art, I wish to show that
these doctors set in this respect a most pernicious example.
The first, Dr. Philip Read, dabbled in free-thought, criti
cized the preaching of the ancestors of our Chaplain, for which
Concord made it desirable for him to change his residence.
But what followed ? Dr. James Minott did not stick to his
pills and herb-drinks, yet escaped the fate of his forerunner.
This gentleman was as versatile a genius as Anonymous in a
book of extracts. Here is his epitaph!
Here is interred the remains of James Minott Esq., a. m. an
Excelling Grammarian enriched with the Gift of Prayer and
Preaching, a Commanding Officer, a Physician of Great Value,
a Great Lover of Peace, as well as of Justice, and which was
his Greatest Glory, a Gent'mn of distinguished Virtue and
Goodness Happy in a Virtuous Posterity and living Religiously
died comfortably, Sept 20, 1725. Aet. 83.
Could man do more ? Was not this the high-water mark
of our race ?
In the very next generation the physician is styled Major
Jonathan Prescott, vying in accomplishments with his prede
cessor. His son Dr. John, a good physician, presently' appears a
commander of an expedition against Cuba, then as a diplomatic
agent for the Colonies in London where he died.
A generation passes, and then we find Dr. Samuel Prescott
riding home from courting Miss Mulliken of Lexington at the
strange hour of one in the morning on the 19th of April, join
ing Paul Revere on the road and by his good horsemanship
escaping over a wall when Revere was taken, and bringing the
stirring news to Concord ; but we hear no more of him as a
practitioner. Time fails me to tell of John-Cumming, Harvard graduate,
Indian fighter, Indian captive, then Lieutenant Colonel in ser
vice against them, wide-riding country doctor, Royal Justice of
the Peace, Patriot, member of the committees of Coirespon-

DR. EMERSON'S REMARKS. 89
dence and Safety, then sitting in the Provincial Congress and
CountyT Courts, and last benefactor to the town and to tus
Alma Mater : of the varying but hard fortunes of Dr. Ezekiel
Brown : of Abiel Heywood, practicing medicine for years ; then
Town Clerk, Chief Selectman and Assessor for 30 years, latterly
abandoning at once celibacy and small clothes, ancl taking office
of high trust in the State : of Edward Jarvis, general practitioner
and specialist, writer on genealogy, history and statistics, and
loyal benefactor of this town!
But in late years the towu was blessed with doctors who
did not scorn to abide in their toilsome calling, and died in har
ness faithful and brave, loved and honored-like him whose ven-
rable face we all remember.
From the honored names of the healers of this town, in the
days that are gone by, thus lightly touched on, but whom we
all revere, I turn to answer, as you have bid me, Sir, for my
name and race, thankful that the double tie which binds it to
the Past of this town gives me the right.
He who fifty years ago spoke near where to-day you have
listened to a representative of an honorable family always near
to him loved Concord. The room where he wrote we call his
study, but his study was the pine wood or the oak-girt ledge of
rock looking on blue Walden and bluer river, beautiful to him
in even the harshest aspect and full of voices as the sacred
groves of the East.
Not less the aspects of the men and women of the village.
He watched the farmer pass his window aud remembered him,
as one who faced the Primal Forces and wielded them to raise
his corn. He sat in the Town-Meeting, speaking seldom, hearing
every word, and came home praising the sense and courage
shown, secure that in the end, after this rough sifting, the
brave counsel would prevail.
I bring to his townspeople to-day this word which I only
yesterday found in his note book. " :How do the wise differ
from the unwise,' was the question put to Bias. He replied
In a good hope.' It is the true heroism and the true wisdom,
'Hope.'" That shall be his word for the next century. This
other note I found, written just after a stormy scene which hap
pened in these streets just before the war.

90 CONCORD CELEBRATION.
"Somebody said in my hearing lately that a house in Con
cord was worth half as much again as a house in any other
town since the people had shown a good will to defend each
other." The President:
It was the irony of fate that in Concord should begin the Revolu
tion. Concord Fight is a contradiction in terms; and it is perhaps
the irony of history that Concord should furnish the ground where
Acton men fought the battle of Lexington.
Is there not some of the irony of both fate aud history that the
modest, transcendental youth, who came here from Brook Farm, "to
till these lonely fields" should in these days have the largest audience
as Orator and Editor in this broad land? That he
"By wondrous tongue and guided pen
Brings the flown muses back to men."
Will he kindly speak ou this occasion to this small gathering of
his former townsmen GEOKGE WILLIAM CURTIS.

Mr, Curtis' Speech.
Mr. President:
That I once lived in Concord, is among my happiest re
collections, and that I should be asked to come back again to
day is one of the most gratifying of honors. Life gives us few
purer pleasures than to know that we are kindly remembered
where we remember kindly, and upon returning to the familiar
places to find the old friendships and old feelings as unchanged
as the hills and streams. In the tenderest of his poems, Byron
recalling the best hours of his life, describes the scene that he
remembers as a "most living landscape." But the life of a
landscape is not in its verdure and form, in its waving woods
and flowing waters. The landscape lives in its human associa
tions, in its historic traditions. Its deepest charm is felt when
we can say with Wordsworth : "Here in old time the hand of
man hath been," — the hand of genius, the hand of heroism, of
art, of letters,of science ; so that the the dead, whose works do
follow them, may, after all, make the most living landscape.

MR. CURTIS' SPEECH. 91
I suppose that there is no son, native or adopted, of Con
cord who does not cherish for the ancient town that peculiar,
personal feeling of reverence of which our orator spoke this
morning. There is no town which has a story more worth telling,
and that story was never more completely, more adequately or
more nobly told than you have heard it to-day. Now mindful
of the hour, and of the tried patience of my hearers, I can
not but recall the story of the old clergyman (and this story, I
think, is not told of a Concord clergyman, as most good stories
are), who paused, after preaching a couple of hours, in the
middle of his sermon, and said : "Ah brethren, saving souls
is such delightful work that I could go on preaching all
night, but I must consider the infirmity of human nature, I
must forbear, I will restrain myself and preach only four hours
longer." As every one of the distinguished gentlemen who
have preceded me has taken his seat, I have wished that he
would forbear and restrain himself to preach only four hours
longer. That forbearance my friends, would have had for you
this advantage, — that you would have been spared listening to
another speech ; while it would have enabled me to permit ex
pressive silence to muse the praise of Concord.
"Here is old Concord,
Now let expressive silence muse her praise."
I came to Concord with my brother, from Brook Farm.
I am not quite sure whether we belonged to that "Menagerie"
of Mr. Emerson, of which we have heard or whether we were
not a pair of those "visionary youths" whom Mr. Hawthorne
said overran this village about forty years ago. Yet he was
one of us. He preceded us from Brook Farm : and Concord,
surely, was not the only wonder-land to which he introduced
the young visionaries of his time. There was as my older
friends may remember, some kind of association in the popular
mind, between Concord and Brook Farm. It was very natural
that it should be so. Mr. Emerson lived in Concord and Brook
Farm was supposed, in some indescribable way, to have sprung
from his teachings. _To go from Concord to Brook Farm,
therefore was merely to pass from theory to practice. To come
from Brook Farm to Concord was to rise from plain living to
high thinking. Indeed the lines of a young man could not

OS CONCORD CELEBRATION.
have fallen in a pleasanter place nor in one more likely to sti
mulate his good impulses if he had any, and to repress those
that were not so good, than a village at one end of which lived
Emerson and at the other end Hawthorne, while conveniently
but characteristically in a different direction from either lived
Hjnry Thorj iu. If to this you add the immortal revolutionary
tradition that made the long, winding road under the brow of
the hill from Emerson's house on one end to Hawthorne's at
the other, a via sacra, aud then fill the village with that popu
lation which seemed to have sprung from Cromwell's Ironsides
themselves, if you plant it all in that tranquil, gentle, pastoral
landscape, so familiar to you, and which the best genius of
America has made familiar to all the world, if you do this, you
have the Concord that I knew, the Concord of forty years ago,
the Concord that was then and still is the friend and ally of
every good cause involving the rights of man or the rights of
woman, that Concord which then was and now is the fullest
ancl fairest representative of the old New England which
marched from beyond the Merrimac to beyond the Mississipi,
planting New England men and New England principles
wherever its foot fell.
There is no American town to which Dr. Johnson's famous
remark about two widely severed places is more applicable than
to Concord. "That man," he says, "is little to be envied whose
patriotism would not gain force upon the plain of Marathon, or
whose piety would not grow warmer among the ruins of Iona."
Patriotism and piety, — these make the legend, these tell the
story of this town. Marathon and Iona blend in this town-
No Greek hero, not Leonidas, not Miltiades, was of purer
heroic mould than Isaac Davis, and John Buttrick, and James
Barrett, and their comrades, — the heroes who have made these
meadows ground as dear and sacred to the liberty loving heart
of mankind as the plain of Marathon or the pass of Thermo
pylae. These were the heroes of the field. But in that tranquil
sphere of thought which moves the world, the serene wisdom
of the scholar at the other end of the village, fired the shot
heard round the moral world of his generation, and makes the
plain village as precious a bourne of pilgrimage as the fane of
Iona. 1 cannot allow myself to give way to the feelings and

MR. CURflS' SPEECH. 93
consequently to the words which are in my heart and which are
trembling upon my tongue, This only let me say — -that it
seems to me that we are to remember that the men who stood
at the Bridge and who forced British authority to begin its
retreat- from the western continent, were the armed pioneers of
American political independence. The scholar at the other
end of the town boldly challenged the most venerable ecclesi
astical traditions ancl in his day declared for us all that inde
pendence that soul-liberty, upon which Roger Williams planted
Rhode Island, — these were the men who have bound the spir
itual and political lesson of Concord close together in independ
ence. If there is any one principle which, in every political
and every religious emergency, is the sure stay of every Ameri
can citizen, undoubtedly you will agree with me that it is what,
in the old colonial phrase, was called "independency;" and if
there be one fraternity which in this country should never be
permitted to die out, it is that surely of the sons of liberty.
No truer word was spoken to us this morning by our orator
than this, — that the great events which culminated at the
Bridge showed the constancy of onr fathers in their patriotism.
Constant were they above all. Faithful were they to the last.
And when he truly said, in that phrase wrhich will become me
morable, that Major Buttrick gave the order to subjects of
King George and that the men who fired were citizens of
America, I felt at once how striking an illustration it was of
their constancy to principle, and their independence of names
and traditions, — that almost, as it seemed, in a single moment,
they passed from being subjects of a king into the fulness of a
prospective republic.
There is one story which I am very sure, though it be of a
clergyman, is a story of Concord. And I do not know why all
ofthe good -tories are fathered upon the clergy if it be not
that, as the devil is said to have all the good tunes, it be only
fair that the clergy should have all the good stories ; and this
particular story is that of a clergyman who went into the pulpit,
taking up the hymn book and found that the leaves were torn
out. so that the book was very thoroughly dilapidated. He
said "Brethren, let us begin these exercises by singing to the
praise aud glory of God the 412th hymn." He proceeded a
few stanzas. "No, no, — let us sing to the praise and glory of

94 CONCORD CELEBRATION.
God the 212th hymn." He proceeded a little further, but the
consuming tooth of time had been before him. He stopped
again, "Brethren," — he tried it once more, but the result was
the same. He closed the book in a kind of despair. "The
congregation will sing to the same praise and glory any hymn
that is not torn out of the book."
So, I am about to leave this congregation to sing the
praise and glory of Concord in any conceivable form of words
that has not already been exhausted. As for myself, as I re
call Annursnack, and Lee's Hill, and the Cliffs and Ponkaw-
tasset, Walden and Fairhaven, and the North Bridge, as I fill
these familiar streets and fields with that troop of the shining
ones, men and women whom I remember.
"I feel the gales that from ye blow
A momentary bliss bestow."
And I say, in the words most familiar, I am sure, to the parish
of old Peter Bulkeley and of Dr. Ripley, so long the pastor,
blending verses in which the sentiment so naturaliy blends,
"If I take the wings ofthe morning and dwell in the uttermost
parts of the sea, if I forget thee O Jerusalem, let my right
hand forget her cunning."
At the end of Mr. Curtis' speech the sunset had come and
the audience rose to depart :
The President said.
The audience are requested to join in a slight ceremony in the
conclusion of this celebration.
In 1792, seventeen years after the Fight, the old North Bridge
was moved down the river a hundred rods. One bent of that bridge
was used for the timber foundation of the abutment at the new spot.
A. stepping-stone on the old causeway, over which Captain Isaac
Davis fell when he "was pierced by a British musket ball," was used
in building the new abutment. Seven years ago, in rebuilding this
abutment, that stoi.e was found with the stains upon it, that
tradition says were Captain Davis's blood. It was carefully saved,
and will at some suitable opportunity, be presented to the towu of
Acton, to be placed beside their monument to the hero of that fight.
From the oak post of the old North bridge, thus preserved for a cen
tury under water, several canes have been made, which I. desire now,
in behalf of this town,|to place 'where they will do the most good,' in
the keeping of those of our guests to-day who have in prose and song,

PRESENTATIONS. 96
made that bridge ever memorable. If they serve as staffs to their de
clining years, of which we trust that our guests will enjoy many,
may they also remind them of the events that this oak witnessed,
iind of this town and celebration.

Judge Keyes then presented a cane to Senator Hoar to
Senator Evarts, to Mr. Curtis, to Mr. Lowell, to Mr. Hapgood
Wright and to Judge Hoar. The canes are gold mounted
and are inscribed "Old North Bridge Oak, Concord, Mass.,
September 12 '85."
This closed the exercises, and a national salute after sunset
ended the celebration.
Had not the lateness of the hour prevented, the Rev.
George Herbert Hosmer and Samuel Hoar Esq. would have
responded, the first for the family of his name so long and so
well known in the town, the last for the town itself of which
he is the chief municipal officer and for the soldiers of the union
army of whom he was one.

THE END.

Appendix,

It is interesting to record that one Indian girl of pure blood was
present at the Celebration, the only representative of tier fast vanishing
race. Her name, Waziwaitewin means Oood pine tree, and her
adopted name is Annie C. Lyman. She is a Sioux of the Dakota tribe
and a student at the Institute at Hampton Virginia.

Concord by vote at the November meeting accepted the "Hapgood
Wright Semi-Centennial Fund" aud the amount given, one thousand
dollars, (S1000) has been deposited with the Massachusetts Hospital
Life Insurance Company, to accumulate for the next fifty years. The
giver of the fund is a descendant of the seventh generation, from the
first of the name, Edward Wright, who settled in Concord, about
1650. Peter, a son of Edward, left by his will a fund of one hundred
pounds for the benefit of the poor of the Town, the first of the long
list of Town Donations still held by Trustees for the purposes for
which they were given. Hapgood Wright, the son of Nathan Mer
riam Wright, was born in Concord March 28, 1811. He settled in
Lowell and has been a successful merchant there, occupying the same
store for fifty years. He has filled many positions of municipal trust
and honor with great acceptance, and gave to Lowell on its fiftieth
anniversary, a similar donation to this to Concord on its two hun
dredth and fiftieth. In thus ending, as his ancestor began, the pres
ent list of donors to Concord's Funds for useful purposes, it is but a
slight tribute to his and his ancestors worth to record here this brief
notice.

It was found at the final meeting of the Committee of Arrange
ments, that the Celebration had been successfully carried out at an
expense including the cost of the historic tablets, within the appropri
ation. A small balance was left, and used to defray in part, the cost of
printing this report, published in accordance with a vote of the Town
passed at the November meeting, and prepared and edited by
J. S. KEYES, )
GEO. M. BROOKS, [ Committee.
SAMUEL HOAR, )

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