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NEEDHAM’

S

B I C E N T E N N I A L

CELEBRAT IO N

A R E C O R D OF T HE E X E R C I S E S A N D A

\IE .\IOR I U OF TI I E (JELEBR YI ION AT NEEDIIA ‘II

ON T I I E TWO HUNDREDTHAN N I V ER SA R Y O F I T S I N CO R POR AT I ON

hmpiled by Thomas Sutto n

Prin ted at Needham by

Geo rge W . and W in throp M . Southworlh

I 9 I 3

W I LL IAM (E MOSELEY . Cha ir man

C O N T E N T S

F IRST STEPS

Celebra t ion Comm i t teeI n v i ta ti ons and AcceptancesI nteres ting Le t ters

F irs t Parish Chu rchB icentenn ia l Chronic le

F irst Pari sh ChurchF irs t B ap t ist ChurchEvangelica l Congregati ona l ChurchMethodist Ep iscopal ChurchS t . Joseph ' s ChurchChrist Church and F irst Church of Chri st ,

Sc ien t is tB icen tenn ial Hym nAddress of D r . “7 . H . P . FaunceH is torical Loan Art Exhib itAthle t ic EventsCh ildren ’s En terta i nmentAddress of Char les Franc is AdamsB icen tenn ia l PoemAddress of George K . ClarkeCiv ic and T rades ParadeG rand ArmyFi re Departmen tBanquet and AddressesBall

THOMAS SUTTON. Secrctn rv

I L L U S T R A T I O N S

Town Ha l l (Fron t isp iece)Cha irman of Genera l Comm i tteeSec re tary o f Genera l C omm i t teeMembe rs of Genera l Comm it teeBand S tandNeedham Ra i l road S tationLyon ’s B ridgeMeeting House and M in is ter o f 18 1 1Fi rs t Parish Chu rchF i rs t Bap t is t ChurchEvangel ica l Congregat iona l ChurchMethod is t Ep iscopa l ChurchChr is t Chu rchS t . Joseph 's ChurchTown Ha l l (Dec orated)D r . Faunce, Charles Franc is Adams , G eorge K . Clarke.M rs .

J . G . A . Car terNew Cen tu ry C lub Comm i t teeI l igh Schoo l Bu i ld ingPub l ic L ibrary Bu i ld ingOtlic ialMeda lsNew Dedham Avenue B ridgeNew Avery Schoo l Bui ld ingNeedham Heigh ts Squar e

S tand Pipe and Pump ing S tat ionNeedham "eigh ts Bus iness Sec t ion (2)Sold iers

'

Monumen tNeedham Bus iness Sec t ionThe Governor. The L ieu tenant G overnor

,Congressman

Weeks . The Secre tary o f S t ate

F I R ST S T E P S

ICIN EA II II. G EO RGE W

EMERY Ii l t

IIH“ \ III ' C RO SS “

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NEEDHAM,

S BICENTENNIAL CELEBRATION

T he chairman appointed the fo l lowing sub - comm ittees to take charge of differen t featu res o f the ce leb ration , V iz. :

ORATION —Emery Grover, John F. M ill s , T homasSutton .

GUEs'rs Edgar H . Bowers , Wi l liam Gorse,

George H . Wa lker .DECORAT ION s Howard A . C rossman , A lger E .

Eaton , ! James M ackin tosh .

B ANQ UET AND BAL L Wil liam A . Probert , JamesH . Whetton , Hen ry D . B lackman .

PRINTING AND PROGRAM George W. Southworth , TCharlesH . C row ley , George H . Wa lker , JamesF . Ryan .

HI STOR ICAL COLLECTION T . Otis Fu l ler, GeorgeK . C larke , T homas Sutton .

R ECEPTION John A . T i lton , Wil liam Carter ,Wi l liam E . Hu rd .

ATHL E T Ics ! Ch ar les E . Stanwood , Joseph B .

T horpe , Wil l iam M itche l l , Frank W . Gorse .

CHILDREN’

S E NTERTA INM E NT— Hen ry T . C h ild s,Wil liam M itche l l , Frank W . Scotton .

CIV IC AN D M UNI CIPAL PARADE— James F . Ryan ,Au stin Potter , Hen ry D . B lackman .

James F . Ryan , Frank W . Gorse , Au st in Potterwere chosen to fi llvacan cies .

On th e twe l fth day o f January n ineteen h und redan d e leven , the comm ittee made a report o f p rogressand recomm en ded an app ropriation o f th ree thou sanddo l lars to def ray the expen ses of th e p roposed ce leb ra tion , but at th e an n ua l m eeting in M arch , the sumof two thou sand do l lars was deemed suffi cient by thetown and so voted .

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F IRST STEPS

T h e gen era l comm i ttee he ld e igh teen m eet i n gsbe fo re a l l a rran gemen ts we re made to success fu l ly ca rryon ou r ce leb rat i on . A summa ry o f vote s pas sed i s asfo l low s

V oted - T ha t th e ce leb rat i on be he ld on Su nday ,

M onday and T uesday , the seven teenth , e igh tee n thand n i n etee n th days o f Septembe r .

T ha t fi ve h und red d o l la rs be app rop r i ated fo rdeco rat i ng town bu i ld i ngs .

T ha t two h u nd red and twen ty - five do l la rs beapprop r iated fo r at h l et i cs .

T ha t the sch oo l ch i ld ren be g i ven an en terta i nm en t i n the town ha l l , and tha t each pup i l i n ou r pub l i csch oo l s be g i ven a m eda l comm em o ra t ing th e occas i on .

T hat the Need ham M i l i ta ry B and be engaged tofu rn i s h m us i c .

T h at th e B oa rd o f T rade be i n v i ted to assum e th erespon s ib i l i ty o f the t rade p roces s i on .

T hat th e c i v i c an d m u n i c ipa l comm i ttee act i ncon ju n ct i on w i th the comm i ttee appo i n ted by theB oa rd o f T rade i n mak i ng arrangemen ts fo r a mun i c ipa land trade pa rade .

T ha t a con veyan ce be fu rn i shed to Ga len O rr PostNo . G . A . R fo r the vete ran s .

T ha t fi fty d o l la rs be app ropr i ated to h e lp t he fi remen en te rta i n the i r guests .

T ha t each o f the seve ra l ch u rches i n town be inv ited to ob se rve the ce leb rat ion i n an app rop r i a te ma nne r i n th e fo renoo n o f Sunday , Septembe r the seventeenth.

T hat arran gemen ts be made fo r a c i v i c o rat i on i nthe town hallon S unday even i n g .

T hat Joh n F . M i l l s and \V illiam ll. Ca rter be acomm i ttee to ma rk places o f h is to r i c i n te res t i n town .

T hat M rs . J . G . A . Ca rte r be i n v i ted to w r ite anann i ve rsa ry poem .

NEEDHAM’S BICENTENNIAL CELEBRATION

T hat George K . C larke Esq. be invited to give anh isto rica l add ress .

T hat an invitation be ex tended to Charles FrancisAdam s to de liver an add ress .

T hat a loan art exh ib ition and collection o f antiquesbe he ld in the ha l l of the High SchoolB uilding .

T hat a banquet be he ld on T uesday afternoon ,September the n ineteen th , fo l lowed by speaking by inv ited guests and gran d march and ba l l in the even ing .

T hat the fo l lowing person s b e invited as guests o fthe town :

H is Excellency W ill iam H . Taf tPres ident of the Un ited States

Hon . George von L . Meyer Secretary of the N avyHon . Edwin U. Cur t is Co l lector of Port of BostonHon . Henry Cabot L odge U. S . SenatorHon . W . Murray Crane U. S . SenatorHon . John W . Weeks Mem ber of CongressH is Excel lence Eugene N . Foss

Governor of MassachusettsH is Honor Lou is A . Froth ingham

L ieutenant- GovernorHon . A lbert P . L angtry Secretary of S tateHon . J . Stearns Cushi ng Counci llorGen . Gardner W . Pearson Adjutant Genera lHon . A l len T . Treadway

Pres ident of Massachusetts SenateHon . Joseph Wa lker Speaker of HouseHon . Charles H . Pearson Senator F i rst Norfo l kRev . Edward L . Horton

Chap la in of Massachusetts SenateHon . Edgar J . Sherman Just ice of Superior CourtM r. Horat io Hathaway

Representat ive to Genera l CourtHon . James H . F l in t Judge of ProbateHon . John F . Merri l l County Comm iss ionerHon . S i las Stone County Comm iss ionerHon . Evan F . R ichardson County Comm iss ioner

1 2

N EEDHAM’

s BICENTENNIAL CELEBRATION

L IST OF PERSONS ACCEPT ING INV ITAT ION

H is Excellency Eugene N . Foss GovernorH is Honor L ou is A . Froth ingham L ieut . GovernorHon . John W . Weeks Represen tative in CongressHon . A lbert P . L angtry Secretary of S tateHon . James M . Sw ift Attorney Genera lHon . J . Stearns Cush ing Counci l lorHon . Char les H . Pearson SenatorHon . Joseph Walker Speaker of HouseHon . Charles E . Hatfi eld Mayor of NewtonHon . Byron B . Johnson Ex - Mayor of Wa lthamHon . Frederick D . E ly Judge Superior CourtHon . James H . F l in t Judge of Probate CourtHon . John F . Merri l l Coun ty Comm iss ionerHon . S ilas A . S tone Coun ty Comm iss ionerHon . Evan F . R ichardson County Comm iss ionerM r. Horat io Hathaway, Jr .

Representat ive to GeneralCourtRev . George Wh i taker Somerv i l le, Mass.Rev . N . T . Wh itaker L owel l , Mass .Prof . Chann ing Wh i taker Tyngsboro, Mass .M r. John H . Burdakin

Reg ister of Deeds Norfo lk CountyM r . Samuel H . Capen Sheriff Norfo l k Coun tyM r . Henry D . Humphrey Treasurer Norfo l k Co .

Rev . Edward A . Hor tonChap la in Massachusetts Senate

Rev . Rober t L . Webb Haverh i l l , Mass .Rev . John F . G leason South Amherst, Mass.M r . Thomas D . Co leman

Selectman , Wel les ley, Mass .M r. George N . Sm i th Selectman , Welles ley , Mass .M r . Fred H . K ingsbury

Town Clerk , Welles ley, Mass.M r. John H . Fau l k Town Clerk , Dover, Mass .Rev . Charles E . Sawtel le Bapt ist ClergymanRev . Edward M arsh M ethodist ClergymanRev. J. Adams Puffer Un itarian C lergyman

J AM ES l l .

l l . l . l ( itbltSl‘Z

“ It.” J OS EPH It. T IIU ItI’E

FIRST STEPS

Rev . New ton B lack Ep iscopal C lergymanRev . John de LaM . Wa ldron

Congregationa l C lergymanM r. J . C . Brim b lecom Ed ito r New ton G raph icM r . John F . Ryan Ed itor Wel les ley Townsman

A s the t ime o f the ce leb rat i on d rew n ea r , the rewas a gene ra l i n c rea se o f i n te res t am ong the c i t izen s ,w ho w i th commendab l e p r ide pu t the i r es ta tes i n o rde rso tha t we l l kep t law n s a nd handsome ly deco ratedbu i ld ings we re the o rde r o f the day . B us i n es s pl acesand man u facto r ies we re a l so p ro fu se ly d raped w i thb un t i ng and the nat ion a l co lo rs . T he st ree ts werec leaned , and i n ma ny p laces the s idewa lks edged , sothat the town p resen ted a t idy and we l l kept appea rance .

Unde r the d i rect i o n o f , and la rge ly th rough th eeff o rts o f M r . Ed mu nd G . l’ond . a bea u t i fu l Band S ta ndwas e rected on the C omm on , a t a cost o f n ea r ly s i xhund red do l la rs . T he Need h am B oa rd o f T rade gaveon e h und red do l la rs ; the ba la n ce was con tr i bu ted byc i t izen s i n terested i n the obj ect , w ho apprec iated thepub l i c sp i r i t o f those wh o o rgan ized a nd deve loped theNeed ham M i l i ta ry Band .

T he T own Ha l l wa s pa i n ted and the d ome g i lded ,

every pub l ic bu i ld i ng i n the town was d raped w i th bun ting, the deco rat ion s o f the Tow n llall be i ng mos ta rt isti c i n des ign , photograp h s o f wh i ch a re fi l ed w i ththe archives o f the town .

[ 15

S O M E I N T ER E S T I NG L E T T E R S

SO M E IN TERES T ING LET TERS

TheWh ite House, Wash ington , May 26 , 19 1 1 .

HONORABLE JOHN W . WEEK S,

House of Rep resen tat ives .

Wash ington , D . C .

My dear M r . Weeks .

The Pres ident has requested me to acknow ledge the re

ce int of your letter of May 25th and to thank you cord ia l lyfor your cou rtesy in asking h im to at tend the two hundred thann iversary of the found ing of the town of N eedham , Massaehusetts , on Sep tember 1 8th. As he has ten tative engagements in the Wes t on the days you men tion , he regre tsexceed ing ly that i t w i l l no t be possib le to accep t your mostattrac t ive inv itat ion . I t afi ords h im much p leasure. however, to send h is best w ishes for a successfu l ann iversary .

S incere ly you rs ,

CHARLES D . IlILLES.

Secretary to the Presiden t .

[ 19

NEEDHAM’S B ICENTENNIAL CELEBRATION

Wash ington , Sept . 1 7 , 1 91 1

The Pres ident

regrets h is i nab i l ity to accept

the courteous inv itat ion of

The Town of Needham

to be presen t at the

Ce lebrat ion of the B icentenn ia l Ann iversary

of the incorporat ion of the Town

September 1 7 , 1 8, and 19

20]

SOME INTEREST ING LETTERS

Buekfi eld, Ox ford Co . , Me , Aug . 30 , 191 1 .

My dear S i rI am in receip t of you r k ind inv i ta t ion to the B icentenn ia l

of Needham , i t having been forwa rded to m e here where Iam s taying a few weeks . I am not l ikely to re turn to Mass achusetts in t ime to a t tend a t Needham , and I am thereforeob l iged to forego the p leasu re of be ing w i th you at that time .

I can on ly send my thanks for the cou rtesy extended m e andmy cord ia l good w ishes for the occasion . Needham is oneof our anc ien t towns , and i ts h isto rica l assoc iat ions in thepast and its presen t progress ive s ) II‘lt wh ich has made i t sucha del ightfu l town , wel l jus t ify the honor you do i t by th iscommemorat ion .

V ery tru ly yours ,JOHN D . LONG .

Go Home Bay , Onta rio , Canada , Sep t . 3 , 191 1 .

My Dear M r . Su t ton .

To you and to your Comm i t tee I return ap rec iative andhearty thanks for the honor of the inv i ta t ion m m the tow nof Needham , to i ts notab le celebrat ion . I accep t i t w i th theearnest hope that noth ing w i l l arise to revent my at tendance , at the banquet certain ly , and at o tfier exerc ises if possib le . I end my vaca tion here on September 8th , go ing toBos ton at once.

The ood name and leadersh ip of New Eng land were created by t . e town loya l ty . town meet ings , town schoo ls , townchm cter,—and Needham sharm nob ly in tha t lus troush istory . Your ann iversary commemora tion w i l l not on lytm tify to gra t itude and fai thfu l remembrance on the part ofthe living presen t , but the occas ion wil l d i rec t at tention toscam of c iv ic worth and in tegrity , too often neglected inthese strenuous times .

May prop itious skies and favoring circumstanem help fulfi lyour plans.

Sincerely yours.EDWARD A . HORTON .

To sat Tuomaa SUTT ON , See'

y .

(21

NEEDHAM ’S BICENTENNIAL CELEBRATION

9 September 1 91 1 . West Roxbury, M ass .

The Rev . Freder ick Pember presents h is comp limentsto the Cha i rman and Secretary of the Comm ittee for thecelebrat ion of the b icentenn ia l ann iversary , and begs to thankthem for their very kind inv i tat ion to be present. He deep lyregrets that a prior engagemen t makes it imposs ib le for h imto accep t it . He w i l l be in theWh i te Mounta ins , New Hampsh ire, whi ch w i l l deprive h im of what wou ld have been agreat p leasure.

South Amherst, Mass . ,Sept . 8,

’

1 1 .

MESSRS . WM . G . MOSELEY , THOMAS SUTTON, HENRY T .

CH ILDS,ET A L .

,

Dear S i rs .

I apprec iate the honor you have con ferred on me ininv i t ing me to the Banquet at the B icentenn ia l Celebrat ion .

Save a seat for me. I hope to be present.

Y ours s incerely ,J . F . GLEASON.

Haverh i l l , M ass ., Sept . 1 4, 1 91 1 .

My dear B ro . SuttonI am in receipt of the inv i tat ion to the celebrat ion of

the B icentenn ia l Ann iversary of the Town of Needham .

As you wel l know I have a warm p lace in my heart forthe o ld town and for many of i ts good peop le .

My hear t therefore says , go to th is celebrat ion and renewo ld acqua in tances , and I sha l l obey th is command .

I thank you for the inv i tat ion and ant icipate muchp leasure in attend ing the exercises . W i l l you kind ly sendme a program of the ce lebrat ion .

Cord ially yours,ROBERT L . WEBB .

221

BOMB INTEREST ING LET TERS

Needham . Mass . , Sept . 4th. 191 1 .

Ma. T noxu s SUTTON. Town Clerk of Needham . and Secretary of Spec ial Com m i ttee .

Dea r Si rThe inv i tation to be a guest of theTown of Needham

at the celebrat ion of the B icentenn ia l Ann i versary o f its ihcorpo ration is accepted with words of Dav id Ps.

“Thel ines are fa l len with m e in p leasant p laces ; yea, I have agood ly heri tage.

" Born by the Lo rd ly Hudson . son of theEm pire Sta te, since 1892 the O ld Bay State has been m ylove, and the past of O ld New England very prec ious .

Trust ing to worth i ly honor the Town . I am yours i nservice to preserve the Com m onwea l th . God b less theTown of Needham .

Yours tru ly ,

Rev . JOHN DE LAMONTA IGNE WALDRON .

"ON . Wu . G . M OSELEY , Needham , Mass .

My dear SirI thank you and the c i ti zens of Needham for the honor

conveyed in the inv i tat ion to the B icentenn ia l Ann i versary ,

and wi l l do any work however hum b le to bestow the honorwh ich is due to the men and women who have contributedto the ci v ic l i fe of our town .

Sincere ly yours,Sept . 10, 191 1 . J . ADAMS PUFFER .

August 22 ,

'

1 1 .

M a. Taos . Sor row Needham , Mass.

Dear Sir :l’lease fi nd inc losed my check for toward defray

in theexpenses o f the b icentenn ial of the town of Needham .

l s l l be on hand to articipate in the celebrat ion a long wi thsix other form er res idents of the town . W ish ing you everysuccess, I am

Yours very tru ly .

JOHN SP ICER.

F I R ST EXE R C I S E S

F I R S T CHUR CH IN N E E DHA M

1 7 1 1 a,“ 1 9 1 1

HIST OR ICA L

T AB L ET

UN V EIL ED

A t 7 30 o’

c lock

P R O G R A M

O rgan V oluntary M rs. E dith Lym an

W elcom e Rev . j . Adam s Pufl'

er

A N OL D - T IM E SE RV ICE

Short P rayer

Anthem B efore j ehovah'

s Aw ful T hrone

Reading of Scr iptures Rev . N ew ton B lack

Hym ns Russia , Com plaint Rev . E dw ard M arsh

Long Prayer Rev . J . D . W aldron

Hym ns Dav id ’

s Lam entations , N orthfi eld

E x tracts from Jonathan T ow n send ’

s Serm ons

Rev . W illiam R . Lord

Anthem Jerusalem M y Glor i ous Hom e

HI STOR ICAL SE RV ICE

Unvei l ing o i T ab let F rederick S . K ingsb ury

E m i ly Ho l lan d K ingsb ury

A l v i n Gay S teven s

T he B eg inn ing of Our Church George K . C larke

M us ic o f Ye O l den T im e J ohn F . M ill s

E x tracts from E ar l y Record s W i l l iam W . Peck

Hym n O l d Hun d red

B ened ict i on Rev . E dw ard M arsh

SOC I AL HOUR IN THE CHA PE L

NEEDHAM ’

S BICENTENN IAL CELEBRAT ION

The F i rst Church i n Needham

Public Worsh ip 1 7 1 1

ChurchEmbodied 1 7 20—Parish Organized 1 7 7 8

F i rst Meet ing House bui lt 1 7 1 2—Destroyed by fire

in 1 7 7 3—SecondHouseb ui l t 1 7 7 4—Taken down andTh i rd House bui l t and dedicated 1 837—Moved topresent s ite 1 87 9 and re- dedicated—Chapel bu i l t

and dedicated Oct. 1 888

1 7 20 Jonathan Townsend 1 7 62

SamuelWest1 7 64—1 7 88

Stephen Pa lm er1 7 92—1 821

W i l l iam R i tch i e1 821—1 842

Lyman Maynard1 842—1 846

Charles H . A . Da ll1 847—1 850

James F . H icks1 852—1 853

George G . Charmi ng1 853—1 855

Andrew N . Adams1 855—1 857

28]

John S. Barry1 858—1 860

George B . Em erson1 860—1 866

Albert B . Vose1 87 0—1 87 1

So lon W . Bush1 87 1—1 889

Char les A . Al len1 889—1 893

Ph ilip S . Thacher1 894—1 901

W i l l iam W . Peck1 901—1908

J . Adams Pafi'

er

1 908

FIRST EX I-Z RC IS EH

The l i tt le ch i ld ren who unve i l ed i t were Emi lyHol land K ingsbu ry and Alv i n (lay Stevens , descendan tsof the fi rst fam i l i es of the parish . Freder ick S . K ingsbu ry , great grea t grandson o f Rev . Stephen Palmer ,and a l so hav i ng a fami ly con nec t i on wi th Rev . Jonathan Town send , the fi rst mi n is ter , read t he in scr i pt i ons .

The fou r boys who passed the programs , were al sodescendan ts o f the ea rly fam i l i es , and were HaroldM cIntosh, Raymond M i l ls , ( iuy M cIn tosh and Laurence Eaton .

Papers of much i n teres t were read by (ieo . K .

(‘

l a rke on”

The Begi n n i ng o f ou r C h u rch"and by

John I“. BI ills on “

b lusic o f ye O lden Tym e,

" wh i l eext ract s from early records were read by Wm . W . Peck .

At the close of the formal p rogram a soc ia l hou rwas enj oyed i n the chapel where t he Lad i es

'

A i d Society se rved the i r gues ts w i th an abundan t supp ly ofl igh t refreshmen ts . I lere were on exh ib i t ion relics ofthe olden t ime , port ra i ts , books , mus ic , manu scr i p tsof sermons , etc th i s fea tu re rece i v i ng much a tten t ionfrom the v i s i tors .

T I I E B I C EN TE N N I A L C H R O N I C LE

T HE C E L E B RAT I O N

1 7 1 1

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Sundav ,M o nday and

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SUNDAY , SEPT . 1 7,191 1

M

M

Special serv ices at al l the chu rches

i n keepi ng wi th the occas i on

T he F i rs t Par ish Sunday Schoo l , accom pan ied by delegat ionsfrom o t her schoo ls w i l l m arch to the cem etery and decorate graves of past m in i sters and Sunday Schoo l superintendents

Band Concer t at Needham H eigh tsVespers at the F i rs t Par ish Church . G reet ings from Deri

ham F i rs t Pari sh (the m o t her church ) and W el lesley Congregational, the Second Ch urch in N eedham . Dou b leQ uar tet ; V io l in 5 0 10

,M rs F . C Pea b ody , Con tral to S o lo ,

M iss A dah Gay Fu l ler

Sacred Concer t at T own H al l , b y N eedham M i l i tary Bandfo l lowed b y address b y Dr . W H . P Faunce, Presiden t ofB rown U n iversi ty T he H ow land C lass Male Q uar tet w i l lsi ng

MONDAY , SEPT . 18

One m i le race

Ch i ldren ’s E n ter tai nm en t i n theT own Hal l from 9 30 to 1 2

Base Bal l Match b etween N eedham Y . M . C . A and Swam psco t t A C on G reene’

s fi eld .

T he fo l low ing l i st of. spor ts w i l l take p lace :

1 00 yard run T r ial heats7 5 yard for b oys under 1 4 T r ial heats H and icappedstar t1 00 yard fi nals7 7) yard , b oys under 1 4 , fi nalsR unn ing h igh Jum pS ho t put ,

1 2 11) sho tB road j um p220 yard tr ia l heats.

G i r ls under 1 4 , 7 5 yards H and icapped at s tar t

'.o

0 00 A .

Hm l’

3 0 0 l’

220 t ard fina lsSack race. S cra tchl- ttt yard run.

l ’u tato rat e, yard , st rah hsso yard run.

Tm m i lall Add resses b ) llon. Char les l' rant is Adam s

and Geo rge K . C larke Esq O r ig ina l po em In M rs j t . ACarter, read by Ro st o e A Carter. M usic b ) N eedhamM i l i tary Ilaud . and Male L ho rns under d i rec t ion o f l' red S

Ilirchard .

TUESDAY , SEPT . 19

C l \ i t‘ and T rades l'arade w i l l fo rm in Needham Square

at 0 “ i t h l° ( i . l ’o nd as marshal , and prot eed m er the

follon ing rou te H igh land at enue to May s t reet , tost reet , to H igh land avenue, to A lfreton road , to Conan tst reet , to Hunnen ell s t reet , to llills tde at enue. to

s t reet . to H ighland avenue. to G reat I’Iain avenue. to W arr~

n

st reet , to Schoo l st reet , to C hes tnu t st reet , to Halt s t reet , to

Maple s t reet , to G reat I' Iain .1 \ elttlc and d i s band at

N eedham Square.

Banquet in T own H a l l . Congressm an W eek s ,( im erno r

Foss,May" Fitrgerald , Rev Ed u ard l. H o rt o n . Res

G eorge Mayo r Charles E. Hattield , Hon B . R

Johnson and o t hers have b een i nv i ted and are expec ted tospeak . Dress in fo rmal.

T own Hal l . Exerc ises c los ing w i t h ba l l . G rand .\lart h

led b y H enry T . Ch i ld s , Cha i rman o f Selec tmen .

Historic and A rt L oan Ex hib ition

Sunday,M o ndav and T uesdat in H igh S t ho o l Hall in charge o f

N ew Centurv C lu b

The F i rs t l ’ar i s h Meet ing llo usc “ i l l be o pen to t istto rs dur ing the

three dau o f the B i cen tenn ial Rm eption to fo rmer nu m bers and old

lllllt‘ res iden ts ,”I! Mont i.“ and 3 to ft

, It'd “ ill be we“ t

' ll

A ll ex h i b i t o f t urin s co l lected b v Chas ll M i tchel l “ i l l be shown

EXE R C I SE S I N OU R C H U R C H E S

' l ' l l l'2 S li t llttl ! li

IlO l S E \\ I ) O l’ l \ l l

OUR C HUR C H E S

On e h undred years ago there was but on e chu rch(The F i rs t Pa ri sh ) i n t he terri tory now compris i ng thetown of N eedham ; and the on ly celebra t ion of wh ichwe have any i nformat ion , was a notable h istorica lse rmon by the pastor of that church, Rev . StephenPalmer , which has been prese rv ed and has recen tlyb een prin ted in f ull in t he l ocal paper , The NeedhamChronicle.

There are n ow seven ch urches , a l l well housed andprosperous . The foll owing pages conta i n an accoun tof their con t ri bu t ion s to th i s B icen tenn ia l ce l ebration .

I t i s to be regretted that in several the addresses werenot report ed , but they were neverthel ess fu l l of enthusiasm an d helpfu l in adding interest to the occas i on .

OUR CHURCHES—FIRST PARISH EXERCIS ES

FIRST CONGREGAT IONAL CHURCH IN

N EEDIIAM

(Un itarian)

Sunday September 1 7 , 1 9 1 1

REV . J . ADAMS I’UFFER. Pas to r

a. m . H ISTORICAL CIIURCII SERV ICE —Extm eu

from the Cen tury Serm on of 1 8 1 1

SERMON BY T I IE PASTOR

ANTHEM BY THE PARISH Q UARTET

M ISS MA RY A . T IS DALE HER B ERT N . M ITCHELLM ISS FLO RENCE E . EATON J AM ES E . T IS DALE

sorasso sows by M iss T isda le

12 11 ) m . SUNDAY SCHOOL march to cemetery and deco rate gravesof past m inisters and Sunday Schoo l offi cers

p . m . VESPER SERV ICES

ANT HEM BY DOU BLE Q UARTET

CONTRALTO SUIJO. M ina Adah G . Fu ller

[48

A DDRESS OF REV . W I LL IAM H . WALK ER

M IN IST ER r IasT C IIURC II AN D PAR IS"

DEDHAM (M OT HER TOWN)

Fr i ends , i t i s i ndeed a pleasu re as m in i ster of thepa ren t F i rst Pa ri sh Chu rch of Dedham , to congratu

l ate th i s daught er ehurch upon her two hundredthb i rt hday . I t i s a p leasu re too. to hea r that old t ext :‘Stand i n the ways and see and ask for the old pat hs .

’

The tendency to bel i t t le the past i s a l together t oopreva l en t . We are most of us given to commi se rat i ngthe colon i sts . That the few score fam i l i es who set t leda long the Charles never scratch ed a match , bakedw i t h gas , read by elect r i c l igh t , used a tel ephone , t ravelled by steam or e lect r i c power , tel egraphed the i rh u rr i ed messages , or dec imat ed d i stance w it h an automob i l e . That t hey lacked these conven ien ces usua l lyarouses ou r p i ty . But has not l i fe been wel l l i ved andcan i t not be even comforta bly and happ i ly l i ved wi thou t a l l ou r modern i n ven t ion s ? The natu ral swee tn ess of l i fe was main ly sou red then as i t a lways hasb een and wi l l be sou red by m isundersta nd ings . jeslousies and i l l w i l l , and not by lack of steam , el ec t ric orgaso len e power . I f the qu ickness of t ransporta t i ond id not make homecoming so freq uen t . ne i ther d id i tmake leavetaki ng so i n v i t i ng .

Both the tempo rary and the endu ring sat i sfact i on sexi sted i n co lon ia l t imes . Such tempora ry satisfac

NE EDHAM ’

S BICENT ENNIAL CELEBRAT ION

t i on s as the exh i l arat i on of sun sh i n e after cloud and ofcool brac i ng weather after a torr i d week belonged tothem as much as to any generat ion that ever came andwen t . The deeper sat i sfact ions such as the j oy ofwork ing, the success of one

’s efforts , a cel l ar fi l l ed forwi n ter , fuel enough , an d the restorat i on to heal th of

those n ear to us— such sat i sfact i on s were thei rs . The

st i l l deeper sat i sfact ion s l ike the sen se of fi l l i ng a p l acei n the work i ng worl d and the sense of fi l l i ng a n ichei n someone ’s affect i on so that one feel s n ei ther uselessnor un loved , —such sat i sfact i on s belonged as much tothe ear l i er as to th e presen t i n hab i tan ts of th i s r i verbas i n . That they shou ld have cal led th i s p l an tat i onCon ten tmen t before naming i t D edham , i s proof thatthey needed not that cheap commiserat i on a progress i ve presen t usual l y showers upon the past .

Another factor wh ich h i nders us i n seei ng the oldways and walk i ng i n the old paths i s the forgetfu l nessof the wor ld as we now know i t . I dare to bel i eve thatthere i s noth i ng h i d wh ich shal l n ot be final ly man ifested and that the m i nds of those gone before are keepi ng thei r memor i es . I bel i eve , too , that our h iddenhelpers w i l l be revealed and that the fog of obscur i tyand ignorance wh ich envelops us here wi l l be l i ftedthat we may know as we are known by the Al l K nownabove . That i s my fa i th , yet t i me has almost obliterated tr aces of seven teen th cen tury l i fe i n th i s i mmed i ate local i ty . How meagre the records . They canbe read i n a few hours , and after much read i ng howl i t t l e we glean of what was for those peop le the mosti n terest i ng drama ever p l ayed . We are not an b i stor ica l ly m inded peop le . Even the promi nen t are soonforgotten . Our great grandfathers may be known tous through a recorded w i l l or th rough an ear ly censusso that we know the n umber of thei r acres , sl aves ,cat t l e and horses , and the amoun t of taxes they pa id .

46]

OUR CHUR t '

II RH—I PAR IRII EX ERCIS E”

I t i s ha rd to imag in e very c lea rl y the da i ly l i fe, the

ru l i ng ideas , the pri nc i pa l i n terests o f one who m ay

have gi ven us our d ispos i tion and our name and yet i ti s a lmost whol ly obscu red by the forget fu l years .

I f we know l i t t le of i nd iv idua l s i n w Iom We are

i n terested through l i neage. we know more o f the earlier

generat i on s as a who le. were t hei r cha racteristics? l ‘iase . I ndependence, Seri ousness and Neighborliness.

Ease i s the mood of the old pa in ti ngs . A com

posite p ict u re o f a hundred o ld pa i n ti ngs wou ld showa restfu l n ess not so o ften found today . I t is no t a

stol i d i ty resu lt i ng from ind i fference. i gnorance andlaz i n ess . I t i s the peacefu l tem per o f t hose who are

not being pushed and dr i ven and harr i ed t h rough l i fe.

There was case not on ly i n thei r faces but i n thei ra rch i tectu re . There was very very l i t t le o f the stra i ned .

the fanc i fu l and the t r i v ia l i n t hei r con st ruction . Thei rhouses looked easy , natu ra l and d ign i fied . They werenot i n ten t as many seem to be. upon i n novati on . The

d isc i p l i n e of wa i t i ng unt i l money was ea rned gave tim e

to s tudy plan s . They bu i l t few houses that seemedl ike hal f thought s or second though ts .

The old manuscr i pts revea l less n ervousness . l esst r i v i a l ity ; greater grace and greater ease i n handwri t i ng . They l i ved before l i fe had been artificallyspeeded up to its present pace. Piece workers i n ou r

factor i es compla i n that st rong - bod ied . q u ick - minded .

and n imb l e - fi ngered opera to rs set a pace for the mach i nery and a standa rd for pay , that the less s tro ng andski l fu l can on ly w i th over exert i on ma in ta i n . The samet h i ng has taken place i n every l i n e o f wo rk today . L i fehas been speeded up un ti l ease o f manner and seren itv

of m i nd are not the Amer ican character istics .

I ndependence was a l so a tra i l o f the o lder tim e.

I t was not the secu r i ty ou r t im e has at ta i ned th rough

[47

NEEDHAM ’

S BI CEN TENNIAL CELEBRAT ION

surgery , med icine, in surance and modern interest inheal th . The records as kept by the min i sters of theparen t ch urch at Dedham show that con tagion cla imedmany a life that modern med ic ine could save. Sum

mer took a fearfu l tol l of bab ies as prec ious then as

now . We have reached some measure of secu rityin these respects . B u t they , upon thei r farms andgardens were more secu re i n thei r work . N0 changeof fash i on or i n troduct ion of machi nery or l apse ofyears made the i r work precar ious . Frugal hab i tswarded ofi

'

d i sease . Sav i ng was a secur i ty aga i nstwan t an d a her i tage for the generat ion fol low i ng . Theymade th i s a prosperous local i ty .

Neighborliness fi l l ed a p l ace i n colon i al t imes wel ln igh un imagi nabl e today . Neighbors helped ra i se theframe of house or barn , bu i l t ston e fences , exchangedwork at harvests , hel d bees for t he needy , reaped thecrops when the farmer was i l l , supp l i ed the cha i rs atparty , fun eral or wedding, l ogged , qu i l t ed , and watchedthe s ick . Men ’s in terests were not d iv i s i ve . B eyondthe boundary stone wal l was very l ikely a man doingprec i sely the same th i ng i n t he same season . I t wasa compan ionabl e l i fe, a commun i ty of men who understood one another ’s cares and d ifficult i es . We go farto assoc i ate w i th men of the same profess i on s an dprob l ems . They had a compan ionsh ip of s im i larworkers i n t he i r neighbors .

The el emen t of ser i ousness i n t he colon ial min d i svery eas i ly overdrawn . We must not give too greatweight to the test i mony of the caval i ers that the Puritan m i nd had no l ighter moods . The destr uct i vetest imony of another class or an oppos i ng party is poortest imony , for one party or cl ass can never understandanother . That the Pur i tan was wi thou t humor i s imposs ib le . That there are few ev idences of the i r lighterve i n we al l know . I t i s hard ly to be expected that

48]

NEEDHAM ’


smal l er i n these latter days . A generat ion of mothersi s needed w ise enough , sk i lful enough and determi nedenough to br i ng the home back to i ts cen tral p l ace .

And final ly , much as we l ike to V i ew agai n theold ways an d travel the ol d paths , they are gone andgone forever so far as th i s presen t ex i stence i s concern ed .

We would not br i ng them back , an d yet i n our ab sorpt i on i n the new we wou ld not bel i tt l e the V i rt ues of theel ders . They had ease . Thei r busy l i ves were spen ti n ways of qu ietness and i n paths of peace . Thei rswas the secur i ty they themselves won th rough industry , frugal i ty and thr if t— a secur i ty l ike ours i son ly part i al , for the salvat ion , the con t i n uance and thecon summat ion of al l our l ives rests w i th H im who alon ei s secure and eternal . They were neighbor ly then asbefits t hose who have d i scovered that our or igi n , ourhopes , our i l l s , our sat i sfact i on s and our dest i n i es areone . They were ser i ous because they had work to doand were i n an earnest wor ld . They l ived the fam i lyli fe an d glor ified i t . They made i t mean so much forlater generat ion s that the older men an d women amongus say w i t h deep regret ,

‘ I am the last of my name .’

The older l i fe i s n ot whol ly gone and i t certa i n lyi s not w i thout i nfluence . There are many i n th i sshowy , nervous , speeded - up age l ead i ng the easy , conten ted , ser i ous , neighbor ly fami ly l i fe wh ich had God

’

sfavor two cen tur i es ago and recei ves i t today .

”

50]

ADDRESS OF REV . W I LL IAM W . SLEEPER

PASTOR or T II E want ssasr CO Nonm AT IO N A I. carm en

Members and Fr iends of The F i rs t Par ish (‘

hurch ofNeedham

I am here th i s aftern oon to bri ng you greet i ngsfrom you r daugh ter !

I f the Town of Needham were celebrat i ng i tsses qu icen tenn ia l , and the daughter church were presen tby a represen tat i ve , tha t representat i ve wou ld havebeen i n t roduced as com ing , not from Wel l es l ey , bu tfrom Needham ; and had i t been the cen ten n ia li n stead of the b i cen tenn ia l , then the represen tat i vewou ld have ha i led from the “

\Vest Parish"merely .

The c i t izens of Wel l es l ey remember today thestory of the or igi n of the i r beau t i fu l and th ri v i ng town ,and they a re not ashamed to con fess that their c iv ici ndependence spans a peri od of on ly th i rty years , wh i lefor a lmost on e hundred years previously the mothertown shel tered under her protect i ng w ings her ch i ld renwho chose thei r homes \Ves t of the G reat Pla i n and

North of the H igh lands .Many i n th i s aud i ence wel l remember the years

when t he Town Hal l i n the fores t was the ra l ly i ng spo tfor the clan s who gathered from east and west . andst rove together —ia brotherly fashion w o ver mattersof communa l in te rest . Now each town has its stately

[5 1

NEEDHAM ’

S BICENTENNIAL CELEBRAT ION

civ ic bu i l d i ng, and the old wooden forum , after housing i n luxury the meagre company of the elect poor of

both towns for a n umber of years , now offers hosp i tali tyunder another and more i n v i t i ng form .

It i s n ot my task to speak to you regard i ng townaffa i rs . I come s imp l y as the mouthp i ece of thedaughter church . And yet my story begi ns i n a townmeet i ng, wh ich none of you— not even the oldest c i t izen Of the older town—can poss ibly remember , s i n cei t took p l ace i n the year 1 7 7 4 . I t was the concl us ionof a ser i es of stormy meet i ngs that fol lowed one anotherat frequen t i n terval s for n i ne months . The al l import an t quest i on under debate was , where a newmeet i ng - house shou ld be located . Fancy such a quest ion d i st urb i ng a modern town meet i ng ! Our fat hersmade relig ion the pr i ncipal th i ng , and they were consumed by zeal for the Lord ’s House . Let thei r son sand grandsons and great grandsons s i t up and takenot ice !

I n October of t he prev ious year— 1 7 7 3—the old

historic structure that had served the ent i re populat ionof Needham as the i r on ly and suffi c i en t house of worship , was burn ed to the ground . And already the

fami l i es l i v i ng toward the West were comp l a i n i ng b i tterly because they had to travel so far to at tend church .

These heroic peop l e of t he Ol den days d id not make thed i stance an excuse for stay i ng away from publ i cworsh ip ; bu t it seemed to them suffic ien t reason formaking a vigorous effort to rebu i l d the ed ifice at thecen ter of t he town . Hence the repeated town meeti ngs . B ut the eloquen t voters Of the West fa i led toconv i nce the stalwart men of the E ast that they oughtto p i tch thei r tabernacl e i n the wi lderness , remote fromthe set t lemen ts on e i ther s ide , and we are very gladi ndeed that your ch urch fathers stood manfu l ly by theor ig i nal l ocat i on , and brough t out a major i ty vote i n

OUR CHURCHES—FIRST PARISH EXERCISES

favor of rebu i ld i ng on the old s i te . And now I mustgo on and tel l of someth i ng wh ich occu rred ou ts ide o ftown meeting , and wh ich shows that the m en ofN eedham were early r isers , and that determ i ned m in ori t i es were not eas i ly d i scouraged when t he i r hear twas fixed .

I t was a morn i ng i n August , 1 7 7 4 . The scenewas t he great soc ia l funct i on of t he olden t ime , ca l leda ra is i ng .

"The sol i d frame of the new meet i ng

house had been hewn ou t and put together , and nowi t was to be ra i sed and p laced on the mass i ve s i l l stenon fit t i ng mort ise , and the whole j oi n ted togethervery much as the Apost le Pau l desc r i bes the L i v i ngChu rch i n one of h i s ep ist les . To l i ft one of thesehuge st ructu res was n o easy work . The en t i re malepopu lat i on of the to wn was summoned . B ut the m en

of the Eas t were susp ic ious of the i r western breth renand w i th reason , I regret to say . So at ha l f - pas t fi ve

o'

cl ock i n the morn ing , the men of Ne edham got at thework , qu i te i n the sp i r i t of Hezeki ah

'

s men as t heyraised the wal ls of Jerusa lem . At n i ne o

'

cl ock an armyof st u rdy vol un teers from the West appeared on thescene—too late to help—o r to h i nder ! In the j ou rna l ofthe Rev . Samuel Wes t where th is i nc i den t i s recorded , i ti s sa id , When they found the work i n such forwardness , t hey were di scou raged , and prudent ly w i thd rew ,

although wi th much resen tmen t and many th reats .’

And yet , not d iscou raged ! For i n June of thatvery yea r , an agreemen t had been drawn up stat i ngthat i f the new meet i ng - house shou ld be erect ed on theold s i te , the subscr ibe rs wou ld cont r ibute the sumsoppo s i te thei r names toward the bu i ld i ng of a separatechurch .

“on or as near as conven iently may be to the

cen ter of the westwa rd ly iart of the t own .

As i t proved im possi le to preven t , by vote or byartifice , the rebu ild i ng on the old l oca tion . the resu l t

[63


was the d iv i s i on of the Par ish , and the two new meeti ng - houses i nstead of one . The good pastor protested ,as he had the r ight to do , aga inst the

‘d iv i s ion oftown s in to l i t t l e and general ly poor par ishes ,

’ pronounc i ng th i s pol i cy extremely i n j u r ious to soc i ety .

‘B u ti t i s better ,

’

he generous ly adds in h i s j ournal ,‘than

to l i ve i n con t i n ual con ten t ion , and i t often happenst hat t here i s no other al ternat i ve . ’

I n October , fol lowi ng the“ ra is i ng, t he town voted

to exempt the i n hab i tan ts of the wester ly part of thetown from a l l charges on accoun t of the new church ,prov i ded they do proceed i n bu i l d i ng a meet i nghouse, and main ta i n preach i ng among them .

’ Andthe m en of theWest Par i sh at once began to col lectmater i al for t he new structure, choos i ng for i ts l ocat i onthe extremely favorable spot where the Wel les l ey Con

gregational Church now stands , a command ing ele

vat ion i n the very hear t of the V i l l age .B ut no one shou ld th i nk that all th i s eccles iast ical

earnest ness engen dered chron ic b i t terness between thetwo halves of the goodly , and Godly , town of Needham . With i n a year after t he famous church war,another war broke out wh ich cemen ted together themen of Needham i n a fr i endsh ip that has remai nedunbroken to th i s day . On the lgth of Apr i l , 1 7 7 5 ,th ree compan ies of vol un teers from Needham marchedto Lex i ngton and took part i n the open i ng batt l e of theRevol ut i on . One of these compan i es was from theWest Par i sh ; and on the 4th of Ju ly , of th i s p resen tyear , a tab let to thei r memory was erected , t h rough th egeneros i ty of Mrs . D uran t , at the East Col l ege Gate,where th i s company assembled , at B u l lard

’s Tavern ,then stand i ng on that spot . Shou lder to shou lder ,l i ke good townsmen , t he men of Needham fought forL iberty and for God . F i f ty - n i ne of the e ighty - two

men who s igned the agreemen t to bu i ld the new meet

54 ]

OUR CHURCHES—FIRST PARIS" EXERCIS ES

i ng house were i n that fi rst Revol u ti ona ry batt l e , andthe war made the work o f chu rch erec t i on verys l ow i ndeed . For a score of years se rv ices were con

ducted i n a bare st ructu re wi th benches for pews ,and much of the t ime wi th unglazed wi ndows .

I n 1 7 7 8 , th e Legisl at u re se t o ff the “fest Prec i nct ,as a legal bas i s for the co l lect ion o f chu rch taxes ,and the Wes t Par i sh—not yet a regu la r ly organ ized‘Church

'

was du ly lega l i zed . Twen ty years lateri n l7 98—‘

T lie C h u rch o f Ch ri st i n t he “fest Par is hi n Ne edham

’

was formal ly ‘

embod ied ,

’

as the recordqua i n t ly says , and a l though e igh ty - two m en had s ignedthe or igin al agreemen t for bu i ld i ng , on ly seven m en

en rol led themselves as charter members of the newchurch ,

—seven men and three women .

Bu t after th i s long and pa i n fu l partu r i t i on , thei n fan t daughter was born . I can not take t i me to tel lyou the story of her l i fe . To us , of the old West Par is h ,that l i fe has be en even tfu l , s ign i fican t and b lessed w i t ha good degree of prosper i ty . A few matters may bebr iefly summari zed as possess i ng i n terest for you of theolder ch u rch .

Your daughter chu rch has erected and ded icated .

s i nce 1 7 98 , th ree substan t ia l ed i fices , the second o fwh i ch i s today an i n t egra l part of the Dana Ha l l Schoo lbu i ld i ng . The presen t st ructu re was des igned by theor igi na l arch i tec ts of Wel les ley Col lege , and w i th add it i ons and improvements , externa l and i n terna l , mostcomfortably accommodates the congregat ion , Sundayschoo l and var ious organ i zat ion s of a chu rch that hasen rol l ed s i nce its begin n i ng , eleven hundred and t h i rtyfi ve members , and has today a res iden t membersh i pof th ree hundred and twen ty sou ls . The daughterchu rch b ecame a mother—and the F i rst Par ish Churcha grandmother i n 1 847 , when the Congreg at ionalC hurch in Nort h Needham , or (i rantville, nowWel les l ey

[55

NEEDHAM ’


H i l l s , was organ ized . Ten pastors i n success ion havemin i stered to th i s church dur i ng i ts hundred and th i rteen years of ex i stence . Of these pastorates, the

l ongest— th i rty - fou r years— was the first , that of theRev . Thomas Noyes , whose st ipu l ated salary was £ 1 00and 1 2 cords of wood per an num . The Rev . StephenPalmer of Needham was presen t at the ord i nat ion ,and commended the West Par i sh for the peaceab le andorderly manner i n wh ich the sett l emen t had been made .I t i s recorded of our first pastor , that some of h i s sermons , st i l l preserved , were d iv i ded i n to two parts , fort he morn i ng and afternoon serv i ces respect i vely , andthat each part wou ld occupy at least an hour i n thedel i very . Our fathers bel i eved i n sermons Sundays .I t wou ld take a modern m i n i ster an en t i re mont h topreach one of those doub le barreled sermons ! I t i spleasan t to record that a hymn - book comp i l ed by theRev . Mr . Palmer , was bei ng used i n 1 81 2 , by the largechorus choi r of the West Par i sh Church . So theMother Church supp l i ed both l ife and breath to theDaughter Ch urch .

Our records do not exh ib i t a large n umber of particularly d ist i ngu i shed persons . We are proud ratherof a h igh average i n the membersh ip of ab i l i ty andcharacter . One of our members , Calv i n E l l i s Stowe,enjoyed a br i l l i an t career as theological professor , andearned a st i l l w i der fame by h is marr i age w i th Harr ietB eecher , whose pen has immortal ized some of the families of the ol d West Par i sh and the neighbor i ng sect i onof Nat ick . On theold Commun ion Table i n Wel l es l eyChurch there ever rests the great B ib le, presen ted tothe church by the “ Lady Lothrop” of Mrs . Stowe

’s“

O l d Town Folks . Two of Wellesley’

s pastors arevol uminous au thors ,— the Rev . Harvey Newcomb andthe Rev . D r . Abijah R i chardson Baker . And Mrs .Baker was the

“

Madel e i ne Lesl ie” whoserel ig ious ta les

56]


hearted everywhere are str i v i ng to main tai n ‘the un i tyof the sp i r i t i n the bond of peace .

’

And may the peace of God , that passeth al l understand i ng

,fi l l ou r hearts and m inds i n the spi r i t of our

common Master .

OUR CHURCHES - FIRST BAPT IST EXERCISE S

FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH

Corner of G rea t P la in and H igh land Avenues

Organ ized 1856

PASTOR REV . CHARLES E . SAWTELLE

Serv ices Sep tember 1 7 , 1 91 1

a. m . ORGAN PRELI'

DE—“ Ho ly , ho ly , ho ly l Lo rdGod A lm igh ty

INVOCAT IONRESPONS IVE READ INGG LOR IA . (All stand ing)ANTHEM , Male Q uartette, The Ear t h is the Lord ' s" Gerrish

SCRII’TURE LESSON Deu teronomy , Chapter 8

H YMN 8PRAYER

RESPONSE, Male Q uar tet te,

“ Father in thy m ysteriouspresence kneel ing Gerrish

OFFER ING . w i th verse of ded ication sung by allstand ing

SOLO , M iss Florence B . Cam b ridge, Ho ld T hou m y hand

SERMON BY THE PASTOR —Tex t in Acts A ci tizen of no m ean c i ty

ANTHEM , Male Q uar tet te, I w i l l l if t up m ineeyes

BENED ICT ION'

ORGAN POSTLL'

DE

1 2 00 m . HOWLANI) CLASS FOR MEN

PROP . GEORG E B . HAVEN , Teacher

a. m . B I B LE CLASS . Rally Day . Specia l exercises

59

NEEDHAM'

S B ICENTENN IAL

AT F IRS T B A PT IST CHURCH, NEEDHAM , MA SS .

The first day of the Needham B i cen ten n ia l wascelebrated a t the Bapt i st Chu rch by an i n terest i ngse rmon by the past or upon the s ign ificance of 900 yearsi n the age of a town . Text : Acts 91—39 .

“ A C i t i zen ofno Mean C i ty .

" The add ress was l i stened to by alarge aud ience and the occas i on was on e of grea t enthusiasm and i n terest .

The Howland class con t r ibuted i ts port i on to th ecelebrat i on of th e an n i versa ry by spec i al exerc i ses heldi n a large ten t erected upon the chu rch lawn . Theregu la r sess ion of the cl ass t ook p l ace a t n oon , at whichthere were some 7 5 members presen t .

I n the afternoon at t he Rev . James A . Franc i sD . D . . of the C la rendon St . Bapt i st Chu rch conducteda serv i ce espec i a l ly for men , h i s subj ec t bei ng

“ TheB i b l e i n Ou r Nat iona l L i fe . The speaker gave aforcefu l and masterly address wi th regard to the powerof the sc ri ptu res i n d i rec t i ng the l ife of the nat iont h rough the i nd i v idua l .

“

The nat ion i s made up o fun it s, and each man stands for an i n tegra l pa rt o f thewho le. Nat ional l i fe can ri se n o h igher t han i nd iv idua ll i fe. and the nat i ona l l i fe can on ly be pu rifi ed by the

con sec rat ion of the i nd i v idua l l i fe . The power of theB ib le makes i t poss ib l e for a man to b reak wi th the

weakn ess of the past and go forward i nto the s trengt h

[6 1

NEEDHAM ’

S BICENTENNIA L CELEBRAT ION

of the fu ture . The B ib l e stands for the frameworkand foun dat ion upon wh ich personal as wel l as nat ionallife can on ly be bu i l t .”

Mr. and Mrs . F . W. Hemenway had charge of

the mus ic and the congregat ional singi ng was a verydel ightfu l feature of these gather i ngs .

Upon the two fol low ing days of the celebrat ionthe Howland class kept open house i n the ten t , d i s

pensing hosp i t al i ty i n the shape of l igh t refreshmentsand comfortab le cha i rs , to many guests , many ofwhom came from remote parts of the U n i ted States .A corps of members of the cl ass was always i n attendance, an d many p l easan t i n formal reun ion s w i th formerres i den ts of the town were held i n the ten t . The exerci ses hel d i n th i s unusual way formed a fit t i ng con trastto the more d ign ified serv ices i n the chu rch .

OUR (‘

IlI ’RC IlEfl—EV AN GELN’

AL ("

ONGREGAT IONAL EXERCIS ES

EVANGEIJ CAL CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH

Corner of G rea t l’lain Avenue and Linden Street s

Organ ized May 6, 1857

PASTOR REV . J OHN I) . WAL1 ) RON

Serv i ce September 1 7 , 1 9 1 1

ORGAN I’RELI '

IH‘l—Maestosa, 2nd Sonata G . Merle-l

W 1 LLIAM 1 1AM 1 LTON . Organ is tDOXOLOGY

INVOCAT ION—“

E ternal One. Our God who want w ith our fathers. be

w ith us today . we b eseechThee. Revea l Thysel f untous and be grac ious un to us . And when we m t fromour la bors. m ay the work of our hands he esta b l ishedon earth, and we received in to the eterna l house of

many mansions through J esus Chris t our Lord .

Amen

LORD '

S PRAYER

RESPONS IVE READ ING—Psalm 97

AI’OSTLES

'

(‘

REED

G LOR IA

OLD T I'ZSTAMENT—Deutem nom y 28 1 1 - 14

ANTHEM , BY FL'

LL (‘

IIO IR

J AMES ADAMS. Leader

NEW TESTAMENT—Heb rews 1 1 : 1 and 12 : 2

PRAYERREV . J . 11 . SEARI

’

RY

OFFERTORY—Organ. Adagio, 2nd Sona ta

IIYMN No. 57 3.

“ Wh i le, w ith Ceaselw Course. the Sun

SERMON - Ta t, Isa iah Wha t have they 3am in thy house

Ma nna (i f the Old Nwdhnm Garret

IIYMN No . 55 6. Lord while for all man k ind we prayI’OSTLL

‘

DE—Organ. Introductiem and Page. 2nd M at;


wheel, cradle and B ib l e . These are the tools wh ichbrought cu l t ure to the w i lderness , home to the fami ly ,comf ort an d beau ty to the body , i ncrease to the peop le ,and eternal l i fe i n God to many .

To th i s room on ra i ny days the ch i l dren ascended,

and wh i l e the drops pat tered on the roof , and the w in drasped w i th the branches of the ol d trees across thesh i ngles , Madel i n e and Dorothy dressed i n the quai n tgarmen ts of D eborah and Pr i sci l l a and laugh i nglycourtes ied wh i l e John shou ldered the flintlock musketof Jonathan an d marched to Lex i ngton . Here theyfel t the Red Tide of 1 7 7 5 , tears fel l from ch i l d ish eyes ,you thfu l hearts aga i n thr i l l ed at the L i fe of Long Ago .

‘There are broken rings, and pieces of th ings , and thegarm ents she used to wear . ’

Needham has been too near movemen t and newth i ngs to keep her anc ien t mans i ons unchanged , andher rel i cs in tact , and we must l ook i n Fort Sh i r ley

’scol l ect ion

,the O l d State House at Boston , an d the

t reasures of O l d Deerfi eld, once Pocum tuc (and as thech i l d of D edham , your s i ster town , for Nat iek wasgiven to the In d i an s i n exchange for i t) and i n fine oldhomesteads i n New Engl an d

’

s qu i et spots . Fromthese we recreate the O l d Needham Garret . Nowclimb the steep sta i rs . Beware of the low cei l i ng !Lean forward for balance . N ow , keep i ng to the m iddle

, we move down between the su rv i vors of l i fe’s

storm . Here are tools once wiel ded wi th energy byhands that now rest . Here, I say agai n , are a man

’stools , the axe for bat t le , the shovel , i n strumen t of c ivilization ,

the hammer for bu i ld i ng, the tools of 1 7 1 1and thei r lessons .

Man’

s Tools—TheAxeWhen the first set t l ers came h i ther , they en

tered thewoods wi t h axes i n thei r hands . C rude were

OUR CHURCHES - EVANGELICAL CONOB EOAT IONAL EXE RCIS ES

they i n shape bu t true i n temper , and they made openi ngs i n the oak doma i n . They l a id forest monarchslow . They sp l i t them for puncheon fl oors , for doorsand shut ters , and beaches such as L i n col n

’

s boyhoodknew a hundred years later . As they la i d low an dhewed the s tubborn wood . they though t of G ideon andthe grove by the a l ta r o f Baal he hewed down . Andi n sp i r i t they la i d Upas t rees i n t he dus t for ‘even nowwas the axe la id a t the root of the t ree ,

’

the t ree ofm isgovernmen t and usurpat ion o f power by unworthyhered i ta ry ru lers . Those who were deny ing i n praet ice the r igh ts of man ,

‘

. the certa i n u na l ienabl e r ights,

’

‘ r igh t to l i fe , l i berty , and the pu rsu i t of happ in ess ,' and

to us thei r ch i l dren they bequeath the Batt l e Axe,

say i ng

Strike! for the G reen G raves of your Si res ,God and your nati ve land !’

The Shovel

R igh t bes i de t he axe l ies a p l ebeian heavy shovel,

fel l ow b rot her of t he s t ick wh ich fi rst scra tched t heearth to cover a seed, or make a p lan t grow , or d rewso i l t o pa rt ly open or close a cave

’

s mouth for en t ranceor de fence . (

'

ousin o f the branch tha t became a plowd rawn by woman or oxen . the gang plow and ra i l roadshovel wh ich they never knew . Th e shovel Was apermanent sett le r

'

s t ool and sa id ‘ I abide .

’ I t plan tedthe fi rs t fru i t t rees on these pla i ns i n the wi lderness .

and s ign i fied agr icu l tu re a t i ts begi nn i ng . I t d igged achannel at the fa l l s for fa l l i ng water t o t u rn gr ist m i l l sand weave, begi nn i ng manu fact u re and the ha rn ess i ngo f natu re. Used i n road mak ing , i t speaks of travela nd the b rotherhood o f man , a l so of t rade and commerce . Thro i t the steel h ighway shou ld run fromshore to shore, swamps be d ra in ed , s i lver snow water

[67

NEEDHAM ,


d i rected from snowy S ierra an d Rocky peaks i n to sunk i ssed Cal i forn i a and su n bl i stered deserts , t i l l th edeser t blossoms as the rose . By i t the oceans arejoined in our day at Panama , and by i ts a i d on landand sea i s r i s i ng a h ighway , over wh ich some set ofsun the Heaven ly K i ng comes r i d i ng when to i l i s done .So they

‘Worked in the morning hours .’

TheHammer

The v i l l age vu lcan shaped that on h i s anv i l . I twrough t the na i l s for old Deerfi eld

’

s Ind ian door an ddrove them to thei r p l aces , then , i n the sp i r i t of thatage , cli nched them there . After bu i ld i ng the doorsand shutters agai nst wolf an d wolfi sh I ndi an , i t shapedthe door s i l l an d the w ide hearth ston e where backlogsm ight roar and crackle an d heaps of red embers glow ,

where the crane sw i ngs above,bear i ng the boi l i ng

d in ner i n a great i ron pot . At even ing t ime chestn utspopped , app l es roasted an d sweet c i der s immered , wh i l eyouthful poets dreamed the melod ies of Snowboundto th e sound of west w i n d and dr i ft i ng snows , and h i ssing flakes tumbl i ng down the mighty throat . Thep l ace for th i s j oy , the axe and shovel and hammer hadbu i l t i n the forest . There were but four houses i nNeedham worth $ 1 00 ap iece , yet to the br i des theywere as cosy as the nests to the b i rds , or the hol lowtrees to the red squ i rrel . As before an d s i nce sometr i ed to rear w i thout God

’

s p l an and left unfin i shedB abel s i n the wood . Others reared temp l es that werefi l l ed w i th glad glory and He abode w i th them . Somedrove the i r stern Pur i tan l i ves ‘ l ike n ai l s fastened bythe masters of assembl ies i n a su re p lace ,

’ wh i l e therewere unknown Arnolds and B urrs who smote w i th thehammer of wicked l i v i ng the cruel na i ls i n the hands of

68]

NEEDHAM 'S BICENTENNIAL CELEBRATION

l igh t— mother , home and heaven shone wi th the rad iance of the New Jerusalem .

“

So sh i n es a l i t t l e candl ei n the n ight .

TheBread Trough

was often fi l l ed w i t h I ngi n Meal somet imes buckwheat , often rye for ash cakes , gr i ddle cakes or bread ,to be eaten w i th map le syrup or fat pork . The breadwhether baked i n old D utch ovens or otherwi se, wasthe cen ter of the feast . I t spoke of the harvest of sowi ng an d reap i ng , of death for l i fe , of many grai n s forone loaf , of dy i ng to serve . I t made the fam i ly meala Lord ’s Supper ; was sweet as manna. from heaven toch i l dren an d al l . I t symbol i zed fam i ly l i fe an d fellowship. I t was leaven . I t came from the oven thattr i es . I t was of God who saves . They wou ld s i ng :

‘Back of the loaf is the snowy flour ,And b ack of the flour the m i l l ,

And back of the m ill the rain and the ai rAnd God the Father ’s will.’

TheSpinningWheel, Baby’

s Cradleand theBible

We must not become en tangled i n the woolen yarnof the first , nor be caught i n the t i de that set towardthe cradle and the B ib le . Th is day wi l l n ot perm i tsave to say that furs were good for the h un ter in thewoods

,but the baby in the cradl e must be dressed i n

garments softer , that cou l d be dyed i n the b lood ofberr i es and stained w i th woodland roots , to each fondmother ’s fancy , and then taught the words of t heB ib l e

,that her sons m ight go ou t (not stay as we are

i n the O l d Needham Garret) to the l arger commun i tyl i fe upon whose s ign ificance we now en ter . Out toLex i ngton

,Concord , B unker H i l l , Saratoga, to York

town they wen t . Out of the individual , the family , to

OUR CHURCHES—E V ANGF1L !CAL CONORRGATION A L EXERCISEB

the commun i ty . Z ach man w ie l ded the axe of sm i t i ng ,the shovel o f labo r , the hammer of bu i ld i ng . Eachwoman l ighted a cand le, filled the b read t rough w i thfel lowsh i p . and tu rned the sp i n n i ng wheel , rocked thecrad le, and bel i eved the B ib le. A nd men and womentogether bu i l t the town , the schoo l , and the chu rch as

commun i ty tools .

The Town

At once we see men were the same . Some wou ldnegl ec t town mee t i ng i n those days . Dedham impo seda fi ne o f one sh ill i ng on those one h al f hou r la te,

andth re e sh i l l i ngs for t hose absen t from the meet i ng . B utby th i s fi ne they showed the i r fa i th that every manm igh t be brough t t here . The fi rs t meet i ng o f Needham was December the 4th, 1 7 1 1 , when they chose ap lace to b ury the dead . Three weeks later they votedto bu i ld a house of publ ic worsh i p . They apport ionedlands eq ual ly if they fol lowed Dedham

'

s example wh i chwas equal lots of 1 9 acres for t he home field and 4 ofswamp for marr ied men , and 8 of home and 3 of swampfor unmarr ied men , wh ich shows a des i re to keepequa l i ty . No water r ights were to be appropr iatedby any man . Wou ld that th i s w isdom had been pers i s ted i n . Ladders were to s tand by every house . Noreckless men i n fi re laws . They fou nd the G race ofGod i n the i r hea rts , and a defin i te p lan accepted , n ecessary for peace and prosper i ty . And at town meeti ng they fough t j ealous ly for every r igh t and furtheredthe day of ‘governmen t of the people .

’

In Dedhamthey th i nk they plan ted the roo ts of the governmen twh ich came . There they exam i ned the accoun ts ofselec ti nen . dec ided where to bu ild b r idges. where erect

pub lic bu i ld i ngs , when protest tax es , pet i t ion or defygovernors . Every m an had one vote. no m an had

NEEDHAM ’S BICENTENNIAL CELEBRAT ION

two and attempts at pressure watched . I n these debates con t i nen tal orators were tra i ned , minute menorgan i zed , taxes l ev i ed , t roops ra ised, tra i tors denounced an d preparat i on for freedom made . Al l th i swas wel l done because the first publ i c bu i l d i ng i n manycommun i t i es was t he school house .

TheSchoolHouse

The first school house bu i l t i n Needham was t h reestor i es h igh , the top be i ng a watch tower up bes i de th egreat ch imney . Here the domi n i e of the day taugh tthe youth wi th a b i rch rod as Gideon taught the menof Succoth wi th br i ars and thorn s . I nto th is schoolhouse they gathered wi thou t respect to color , race orsoc ial s tand i ng and almost to age . M i nd and gen i uswere crowned as i n L i ncol n

’

s and Garfiel d ’s day . Theyhad a tower on thei r school no doubt to detect fire ors ignal s of danger , Ind ian or other . The days wi th usdemand the watch tower on the school , l est i n our

fool i sh opt im ism we be beaten educat ional ly by othersere we are aware; l est mater i al i sm take the p l ace ofcharacter as an end , or p leasure that of p rofi t ; l es tH i story ’s l esson that ‘s i n i s a d isgrace to any peop le

’

be m issed ; lest foes of t he p ubl i c school demand thewi thdrawal of rel ig i on from the school s an d then demand rel i ef from i ts support because of i t s non—rel ig i ouscharacter . Paren ts , c i t i zens , Needham ites, ought thewatch tower to com e down from the school house orbe bu i l ded h igher and have a sen t i nel day and n igh t ?Can ch i l dren get a better tra i n i ng mental ly i n p r i vateschools , then paren ts w i l l send t hem there . Can ch i ldren be strengthened i n al l good ways i n religiou

schools , then wi l l sacr ifices be made that daughtersmay be protected i n chast i ty and thei r son s not forgett he God of thei r fathers . Are we doi ng as much for

NE EDHAM ’

S BICENTENN IAL CELEBRATION

some boys of a few years back , t hei r fathers and gran dfathers . One hun dred and eighty - fi ve, an d five of themfel l ; more for the number than from any other townsave Lex i ngton . They come back , some march i ng,some on catafalque , back to the v i l l age church . I n tothe pu lp i t c l imbs the ol d parson . The throng turnthe i r eager faces toward the dead , then toward the sternface sh i n i ng above . Slowly at first come the wordsbut faster soon an d trumpet toned , Men and B rethren :These our brethren came wi th axes i n to the forest an dcleared away i ts barr i ers . They t i l l ed the so i l an dp l an ted i t w i t h fru i t . Houses now i n many a spot theybu i l ded . R ight earn est ly they wrought , wh i l e by thei rs i des were the fa i r women who weep today . Thesel ighted the candle for the even i ng meal whose l oaft hei r hands had made, t urned

(

the wheel sp i n n i n g asthe wise women garmen ts for t hei r ch i l dren aga i n s tthe cold , rocked the com ing generat i on i n the crad l e ,and ere they ret i red to wel l earned rest i n h umbl e bedsi n room or loft , read thi s B i b l e to al l . Then commendi ng themselves to Almighty Love l ay down tosleep . Thei r farms were fru i tfu l . Abundance of hayand gra i n fi l l ed thei r barns . Potatoes and app l escrowded the cel l ars , n uts , the fru i t of the forest , werestored i n lofts ; the fat sw in e, wel l smoked , hanged i nthe ch imney or along th e beams w i th app l es dr i ed

,and

on ions and squashes fi l l ed the shelves . Cat t l e increased and sheep in the yards . They were happyand prosperous . ’

T i s t rue they made many mistakes .Men to i l ed terr ib ly for worl dly ga i n an d forgot Godawh i l e . Gi r ls and women were over fon d of adornments , forgett i ng the grace of Godl i n ess an d love .B u t they spake a goodly tongue ; ever to cal l a man‘Loyal

,B rave, Good and True

’ was h ighest pra i se .

‘ Love,Fa i th , Hope,

’ were the sp i r i ts of the i r womenand maidens, and on thei r tombs in consecrated spots

OUR (‘

II UR C IIES—EVANGELICAL CONGREGAT IONAL EXERCIS ES

th roughou t the uncl a imed land are ca rven the dearwords , C h i ld , Ileaven , ll ome, Beyond , Together i n the morn ing .

’

The seasons w i l l c i rc l eround

'

l’

hanksgiv ing to Eas ter Day , bu t they who l i ebefore us , hav i ng gi ven the last measu re o f devot ionto l iberty , wi l l come no more . L igh t , oh you bereavedones , you r torch a t the a l ta r o f the i r sacr ifice! M aythe ( iod of Is rael com fort you who are widows , andbe a fa ther to the fatherless , wip i ng away al l tea rs , an dkeep you t i l l you me e t aga i n ! And when the yea rshave rol led away , may you r descendan ts l ooki ng back ,

fi nd amid the rel i cs o f th i s g lad , sad day , such th i ngsas they may br i ng down from h id i ng places i n ou rhomes and pu t them aga i n by the fam i ly ta b le, by thebeds i de i n prayer and i n the la rger l i fe o f the com

mun i ty wh ich I see grand ly ri s i ng up i n tha t day . Sosha l l these not have l i ved and d ied i n va i n .

’

[7 5

METHOD IST I‘II’ISCOI’AL CIII'

RCII

comm a or HIGH LAND AV EN U E A ND IIUNN EW E L L sw am

ORGAN I Z E D A PRIL, 1 887

Render t here fore to allthei r dues .—Ilom . 1 3 : 7 .

(The follow ing are the notes on the serm on preached in the

illcthodt'

st Episcopal of Needham ”eights on S undaymorn ing, Sept. 1 7 , b yRev . Edward Marsh, Pastor)

have come to celebrate the Two IIundredthAnn iversa ry of the found ing of Needham . M any are

th i nk i ng of the wonderfu l improvemen ts that havebeen made dur i ng tha t t ime. You m ay speak of thewi ldern ess and on ly a very few houses , and of the manyi nconven iences , but now look at what we a re : ou rchu rches , l ib ra ry bu i ld ing , town ha l l , shops . stores m i l l s ,pa rks . beau t i fu l st reets . I nstead o f wal low i ng in the

mud we have good roads . l augh a t the " O l d One

IIorse Shay ,

"for now we have the powerfu l au tomob i le.

And so we go on cal l i ng at ten t ion to the greatimprovemen ts that we have made over ou r forefa thers .but let us ask ‘ I l ow were these improvemen ts p oss ib le ?

are no t to tel l so much of what we have done. as

what ou r forefathers made i t poss ib le for us to do : andthey m ade i t possib le b y not on ly what they wroughtw i th t hei r hands b ut b y the s acrifices they made- tl1c

l ife wh ich they l i ved .

[ 7 7


Our celebrat ion w i ll be most i ncomp lete u n lesswe take i n to cons i derat ion the men and women whofirst came to New E ngland . Who were these menand women who sought a home i n these Western w i l ds ?B ecause we dress i n the l atest fash ion we need not beashamed of them . I f h istory w i l l on ly coun t us worthysons and daughters of those who faced for us the forestand the frost , the I nd ian an d the wolf , t he gaunt fam i neand the desol at i ng pl ague ! Oh they were p la i n peop l e,hard work i ng, B ib l e read i ng , much i n earnest , wi th adeep sense of God i n them and a thorough detestat ionof the dev i l and h is works .

We can not know , we can not understand Am eri can h istory w i thou t fi rst becom i ng fam ili ar w i th thePur i tan sp i r i t . I n some ways there has been a growi ng oppos i t ion to th is sp i r i t , and i t has been becauseof vat ican ism on th e one hand or agnost ic i sm on theother .

Let me strongly recommend a thorough study ofthe whol e subj ect— know the tru th of the matter . Yes ,i f you p lease , be ab le to d ist i ngu i sh between the Pi lgr im and the Pur i t an . Some t ime go to D elft Havenan d go i n to that l i t t l e church where the Pi lgr im fathershad the i r last meet i ng before sa i l i ng for th i s coun try .

B ut underneath i t al l fi nd ou t the Pur i tan sp i r i t .Who were the Pur i tans ? Taki ng the word i n i ts broadsense

,th e i n st i t ut ion s of Amer ica are l argely Pur i tan .

The Pur i t ans were great ly i nfluenced by the Netherlands

,and we migh t say that for hundreds of years the

Neth er l an ds stood as th e gu ide an d the i nstructor ofE nglan d i n almost everyth i ng wh ich made her mater ial ly great . Hal lam says that Hol land at the end ofth e s i xteen th century and for many years afterwardswas pre—em inent ly the l i t erary coun try of Europe . InHol land the men who susta i ned pai n ters and mus ic i ans ,who fostered sc ience and broad learn i ng

,were the p l a i n


Second , an i n ten se sen se of the author i ty of r igh teousness.

Th i rd , a profound assurance of God’s r ighteous

At last the Pur i tan looks for the absol u te overthrow of al l s i n and the dom in ion of r igh teousn ess .He bel i eved that God held the i n d i v i dua l to str ictaccoun t .

Fou rth . There i s a profoun d sen se of the d ign i tyof man .

’

To be sure , as we hol d up the Pur i tan we mustadmi t th at h e had fa i l i ngs , an d no on e knew th i s betterth an h imself . There was first the l ack of i n terest i neasthetics. Everyth i ng must be of the p l a i n est k i n d .

The Pur i t an was l argely iconoclast ic . He was l ikeJoh n th e B apt i st . Not much of a ch ance for p l easurei n h i s l i fe .

Second , to us there seems to be a lack of atfectionate sympathy . As one tol d me sh e n ever re

m em bered of hav ing seen her m other k i ss one of herch i l dren . Mrs . Sarah Kn ight tel l s that her father , Capt .K em ble of Boston , ret urn i ng from a sea voyage of threeyears , was put i n publ ic stocks for two fu l l h ours forthe cr ime of hav i ng k issed h is w ife when sh e m et himat the door . Take up a vol ume of the serm ons of aPur i tan preacher , an d you find none of the subjectsof the so - cal l ed popu lar preach i ng of today .

B ut i n sp i te of al l that you can say agai nst thePur i tan , we must admi t that he was s i ncere . Thatthere was no sham i n h im . He was a man of greatcarr iage . He fel t that one wi th God was a m ajor i ty .

The uproar of the mu l t i tude d i d not d i stu rb h im . Hewas the same true man i n th e m i dst of enem ies . Chu rchh i erarch i es , d ign i tar i es , state au thor i t i es d i d not feazeh im i n the least . There was h is i nd i v i dual respons ib ility to God .

‘ F i rst pure , then peaceab le’

was h i s

favori t e maxim . I f he cared l i t t l e for t he th i ngs ofth is wor ld . his m in d dwelt on th ings above . He readmuch and pondered long over the Apocalypse . The

e tr i ed to be as the ideal mother of the O l dTestamen t . To her the (fbapter of a l l was the 3 1 stof Proverbs .

I n t hese days a re we to look wi th onth of the Puritan ? Woe be to fa i lt o the Puri tan w i th honor . I f we had not

th is sp ir i t as a foundat ion , as a nat ion we wou ld he i nru in s .

Let us thank God for thePur i tan .

S T . JO S E PH'

S C H U R C H

(ROMA N CA'

ruou c)

(‘

orner o f H igh land Avenue and May Street . F i rs t scr

m on on (‘

hristm as day , 1 800 . Com er - stone o f presenthouse lai d Septem ber 20 . 1 80 1 . Dedicated , Mem or ia l Day .

M ay 30 , 1804 . Pastor, Rev . T . J . Danahy . Assistan t pastor, Rev . Donovan .

Th is ch u rch , on th at cel eb rated occas ion , had its

fi ne al ta r and sanctuary beaut i fu l ly d ecorated an d anoverflow i ng congregation of devou t worsh i ppers , whoformally in spec i a l prayer thanked God for H i s man ifo ld b less i ngs , tempora l and sp i r i t u al , ci v ic and eccles i ast ica l . bestowed u pon the town , humbly beseech i ngH i m stillmore to bless i t and pou r down more ab und

tly upon i t His grac ious merc i es for i ts con servat ion ,

i ts ext ens ion and facto rage for good ami ds t the gl or iesof th i s gr eates t of the nat ion s of the earth . Solemnh igh mass i n all i ts fasc inat ing beau ty of ceremony andmus ical adj un ct was ce lebra ted , the Rev . Pastor , T . J .

Danahy be ing cel eb ran t , th e Rev . Edmund Daley ,deacon , and R ev . Don ovan sub - deacon . Rev . F r .J . A . C row l ey was master o f ce remon ies .

A serm on germane to the occasi on , was preache dby the pastor the Te Deum and Recessi onal br i ngi ngto a close t h is most memorabl e fac t i n the h istory ofthe town .

[83

NEEDHAM ’

S B ICENTENN IAL CELEBRATION

At n igh t , w i t h the same decorati ons and the addedbeau ty of el ect r i cal i l l umination , th e so lemn vespralservi ces were s ung and the Rev . Pastor agai n sal l i edfort h in to the h istor i cal arch i ves of the coun t ry an d ofE urope to show fo rt h t he wonderfu l p rov idence of Godin open i ng up th i s coun try for th e persecu ted of E urope and as an asyl um for al l anx i ou s, by i n dust r i a l ,i n tell igen t and reli gi ous cond i t i ons , to improve t hei rown fort u nes , wh i le help i ng to develop th e exhaust l es sand wonderfu l l y var i an t t reasures of th i s peer less Comm onwealth of t hese Un i ted States .

EXE R C I S E S I N T OWN H A L L

B ICENTENN IAL CELEBRAT ION OF THE TOWN

OF NEEDHAM , MASSACHUSETTS

SUNDA Y E VEN ING , SE PT EM B E R 1 7 , 1 91 1

I n the town hal l beaut i fu l ly decorated and uponthe stage fi l led w i th prom inen t c i t i zens , the Sundayeven i ng program of the Needham Two HundredthAnn iversary celebrat ion was rendered wi th markedi n terest and success .

From seven to seven - th i rty o ’clock a sacred concert was given by the Needham M i l ita ry Band , ass is tedby the Howland C lass Ma le Q uartet te , and at seventh i rty the speaki ng exerc i ses of the even i ng werebegun by the pres i d i ng officer , W . G . Mosel ey , E sqwhose open i ng remarks were preceded by a prayerby the Rev . Charles E . Sawte l l e , as fol lows

Almigh ty God , i t i s fi t t i ng that we ackn owledgeThee a t the beg i n n i ng of these happy serv ices . Thouhast led us as a commun i ty ; Thou hast r i chly blessedus i n many ways ; we do thank Thee for the town i nwh ich we l i ve ; we thank Thee for i ts h is tory al l t hesetwo hundred years ; we thank Thee that the bles s i ngof God has been upon us i n so many ways ; we thankThee for the natu ra l bea uty of the p lace , for t he goodfel lowsh i p and ne ighborl i ness of the c i t i zens , for a l ltha t makes l ife r ich and fu l l he re , an d we thank Thee

NE EDHAM ’


especi al ly for the in creas i ng opportun i t i es of ours forusefu l ness as c i t i zen s of th i s growing commun i ty . Wil lGod gran t that we may have H i s w i sdom i n the futu reto deal w i th t he problems that from t i me to t ime ar i se .

We thank Thee for th e var ious i n terest s of t hetown ; fo r i ts bus i n ess affa i rs ; for i t s c i v i c concern s ; fori t s educat ional in terests , an d for the rel ig ious workof th i s commun i ty . We thank Thee for the work ofthe var ious ch urches , an d wh i l e t here may be d ifferences of admi n i st rat i ons , we pray that there may bethe same sp i r i t of Chr i st broodi ng over al l an d i n a l l ,an d may we acknowledge Thee the Father of a l l , andm ay we haveThy sp i r i t i n our hearts .

We pray as we en ter th i s an n i versary seasonthat wemay not fix ou r at ten t ion on the benefi ts wh ichwe have had showered upon us , but consc ious of thyfatherhood may seek each one i n h i s p l ace by l i v i ngnobly ; by fight i ng the good fight of fa i th ; by hav i ngthe sp i r i t of Chr i st i n ou r hearts , and h i s sympathyfor ou r fel low - men . May we seek to advance the common good , and may we see to i t that we have al l of us ac i t i zensh ip i n heaven above ; an d wh i l e we walk theseearthly steps m ay we i n every avenue en r i ch an d fi l lit fu l l an d advance the common good , not on ly i n re

ligious ways bu t a l so i n our more secu lar p ursu i t .We ask , 0 Lord , Thy bless i ng on th i s meet ing

ton ight . B l ess every home represen ted . B l ess everyi n d iv i dual here . B l ess t hose not abl e t o meet w i thus ; bless those who are s ick , an d may Thy abundan tbl ess i ng rest on the speaker of t he even i ng . We thankThee for h i s work for the youth of the land . Wethank Thee that he i s i n terested i n so many th i ngspertain i ng to the welfare of manki nd , and as he seeksto do Thy wi l l in all ways m ay he have the freedomof Thy sp i r i t and the confidence of Thy strength .

Weask i t a l l in thename of our Lord , Amen .


commerc ial en terprises ; and the quali t i es recognized,cult i vated an d developed by the ear ly set tlers havebeen the determ i n i ng factor in fu rn i sh ing m en fit tedto leave the old Bay State and go to the West , andfound the states of our western coun try that havebecomea power in thewholenat ion .

Now, if the early sett lers were trai n ed along linestend i ng to fit men for the respons ible pos i t ions of l i fe,i t seems to m e that we can l earn a l esson from them ,

and wh i le today we hear so much sa i d abou t the progressiveness of the coun try , an d that we shou l d cu tloose from the old l aws an d from the old customs , It h i nk i t wou ld do us good to tu rn back and study theh i story of the State , to reca l l aga i n that first set t lerscame here for the purpose to worsh ip God , and so

reali zing, we shou l d takea firmer hold upon the dutiesof good ci t izensh ip .

I was somewhat i n terested the other day to fi ndpubl i shed i n a magaz i ne a short poem by James Russel lLowel l , wh ich seems to bear upon the popu lar i dea oftoday . I w i l l read i t

‘

New tim es demand new m easures and new men ;The world advances and i n t im e outgrowsThe laws that i n our fathers ’ day were best ;And, doubtless, after us som e purer schem eW illbe shaped out by wiser m en than we,Made wiser by the steady growth of truth .

The t im e is ripe, and rotten - ripe, for change ;Then let i t com e ; I have no dread of whatIs called for by the inst inct of mank i nd .

Nor th i nk I that God ’s world wou ld fa llapartBecause we tear a parchm ent m ore or less ;Truth i s eternal, but her effluence,W i th endless change, i s fitted to the hour ;Her m i rror is turned forward, to reflectThe prom i seof the future, not the past.

’

EXERCISES IN TOWN B A LH IIE CHA IR MAN

The t roubl e w i th the t imes , i n my op i n ion , i s n otthat t hey are new t imes demand i ng new measu res andnew men . bu t that we have m i staken noi se for n ewness . Wha t we need , i n my op i n ion , i s tha t men shal lrea l i ze thei r respons ib i l i t i es o f c i t i zensh i p ; tha t thereshal l be a reawaken i ng of the pub l ic consc ience ; tha tmen shal l assume the i r p roper p lace i n the managemen t and governmen t of the coun t ry . Laws may bes imp le , they may be perfect , bu t they w i l l n ot workautom aticall they need men to execu te them ; an d asa resu l t of t i s cel ebrat i on if we can bu t get a fi rmer

grasp upon our duti es as men , if we m ay be awakenedto ou r responsi biliti es as c i tizen s , this observan ce willbe worth all i t has cost .

In the early days there was erected on top of ahill i n Boston a post wi th a proj ec t ing iron arm uponwh ich was suspended an i ron pot, in wh ich a fi re cou ldmade to serve as a beacon , and from th i s the h i l l deri vesthe n ame of Beacon H i l l . I t was understood tha twh en a blaze was seen at th i s po i n t , the men i n th esurround ing coun try shou ld come to the cen tre to gi vere l i ef to those i n danger . There is now in the StateHouse grou nds , a gran i te shaft to take the p l ace of theone first erected , an d upon th e base are tablets bea ri ngi nscript i ons . I have a lways been i mp ressed w i th theinscri

pltion on the tablet on the west s i de , where we

‘

Americans , wh i le from t h i s em in ence soeamof l uxu r ian t fe rtili ty , of flou r i sh i ng commerce , and theabodes of soc i a l happ i ness meet you r v i ew , forget notthose who by the i r exert i on s have secu red you thesebless i ngs.

’

As Needham today obse rves the two hundredth anniversa of its fou ndat ion let us not forgetthose who by then exert ions have secu red to us theseblessi ngs. I b id you welcome .

”

Needham’

s B i cen ten n ial hymn , composed by a

c itizen , Mr . Geo . E . N i tcheu, was sung by the u tet.

NE EDHAM ’


NEEDHAM ANN IVERSARY HYMN

PSALM 1 00

COM POSED BY GEORGE E . M ITCHELL

Make a joy - ful noise an - to the Lord, all ye land,

Serve the Lord wi t h glad - ness : Come before His pres-encewi t h

ing. K now ye t hat the Lord He is God ;

is He t hat hat h m ade us, and not we our selves.

94]

NE EDHAM ’


M R . MOSE LEY . The committee arrangi ng for t h i smeet i ng ton igh t had i n m in d that they des i red a speakerto come here to address th i s meet i ng whom we cou ldi n t roduce w i t h cons i derabl e confidence ; as a speakeracceptabl e at an occas ion l ike th i s . And in look i ng overthe fiel d , we foun d a man of nat i on al reputat i on , aman who i s known to be one gracefu l i n express i on an dforcefu l i n u tterance, who never says anyth i ng butwhat peop l e are p l eased to t reasure an d remember ,an d I therefore take p l easure ton igh t i n i n t roduci ngto you the speaker for th i s even i ng, -D r . Wi l l i am H .

P . Faunce , Pres i den t of B rown Un ivers i ty .

ADDRESS OF DR . W ILLIAM H . P . FAUNCE

Never before have I been i n the town of Needham , and as I came over on the t ra i n ton igh t I sa i d tomysel f :

“Shal l I not appea r as an ou ts i der , shal l I notbe merely an i n t ruder at a fami ly fes t i va l ?

’

B u t I cannot be whol ly an i n t ruder or outs ideranywhere i n Massachuset ts. In the ci ty of W

'

orcesterI was born ; five generat i ons of my forefathers a rebu r i ed on the ol d B u r ia l H i l l i n the c i ty of Plymouth ;and whenever any commun i ty i n the old Bay Statei s celebrat i ng i ts ach i evemen ts , and seeki ng to up l i f tand en la rge i ts l i fe , there I fi nd myself profoun dlyin teres ted .

And for a few minu tes th i s even ing , I wan t to beas one of you r fam i ly , s i t t i ng wi th you a t the sametabl e and th i nk i ng w i th you the same though ts . Ican see a t a glan ce tha t you have here one of th e fin esttown hall s and one of the bes t mus i ca l organ izat i on sto be found in the Commonweal th , and I be lieve tha tyou wi l l t h roughou t th i s fest i va l ach i eve a new accessof c i v ic devot ion , en th us iasm and un i ty , which w illbe fel t for a long , long t ime to come .

Wood row W i l son , who i s j us t now a prom inen tfigu re i n ou r nat iona l l i fe , when h e was pres iden t ofPr i nceton l

'

n iversity took a j ou rney to the mounta i nsof Ten nessee, and one aftern oon was sea ted by thes ide of an old stage dr i ver for two or three hou rs . The

[97

NE EDHAM ,


dr i ver was som ewhat awed at fi rst by the presence ofthe col lege professor , but soon h i s assurance assertedi tse l f and he ven tured the remark ,

‘I suppose you’

uns

at col l ege know some th i ngs that we ’nns in Tennesseedon

’

t know .

’

D r . W i l son admi tted that m igh t be t rue .Then after a few momen t s

’

though t , the old dr i ver sa i d‘ I suppose that we’

uns i n the mounta i n s know someth i ngs that you

’

uns at col lege don ’t know,

’ —an d D r .Wi lson adm i t ted that that migh t be true . The dr i vercons idered the matter for a t ime an d then sa i d : ‘Wel l ,how m ix in

’ does l earn folks !’

Yes , I bel i eve i n that ph i losophy . You wi l l fin dthat the m ix ing” i n these days of men and women andch i l dren from var ious homes and var ious occupat ion sfrom a l l pol i t i ca l part ies and rel ig ious creeds , —thei rm ix i ng i n sp len d i d c iv i c v i s i on an d devot ion w i l l aecom

plish much for the future of Needham .

I wan t to speak w i th you ton igh t about patr i ot i smi n t ime of peace , -what i t i s and what i t means .

W hat i s patr i ot i sm ? I t i s more than cover i ngyour bu i l d i ngs w i th bun t i ng, i t i s more than wav i ngflags i n a process ion , more than pyrotechn ics br ighten i ngthe darkn ess of the sky . When a man says ,

‘

I l ovemy coun try ,

’ what does he love ? He certa i n ly doesnot l ove a spot on the map ; he certa i n ly does not lovethe st ones i n the street ; he does not love t rees by theroads i de ; he does not love the br icks an d t imbers i nt he houses . What does he love ?

‘ I l ove thy rocksndd r i l l s ,

’ we say . B ut that i s n ot patr iot i sm ; a manthat l o ves rocks may be a geologi st , but not necessar i lya pa tr i ot . When a man loves h i s coun try he lovesthe i deal s wh ich the fathers cher i shed , an d the i n st itutions i n wh ich those i dea l s are embod ied . He lovesthe l iber ty , the law , the i n tegr i ty , the loyal ty of t hefathers , the types of character that they exh ib i ted ,and the in st i t u t i ons through wh ich that type of char

EXERCIS ES IN TOWN "ALL—DR . FAUNCE

acter has been perpetuated . The man who l oves thoset h i ngs l oves h i s count ry , or h i s c i ty , o r h i s town .

Pat r iot i sm i n vol ves th ree th ings ,—memory , co

operat i on , and educat ion ; memory of the pas t , co

operat ion i n the presen t , and educat i on for the fu tu re .

They somet imes t e l l u s t hat ou r ch i ld ren at schoola re n ot hav i ng thei r memor ies cu l t i vated as much asi n former days . It i s not s imp ly the i nd i v idua l memory we n eed to cu l t i vate ; i t i s ou r nati on a l memory aswe l l . Repu b l i cs have been cha rged w ith hav in g veryshort memories , bu t a l l Amer ica has a short memoryfor Amer ica has a very short h i s tory .

I sha l l n ot forget the fi rst t ime I v i s i ted the oldworld , i n the yea r 1 884 . I landed at L i ve rpool andwas d r i v i ng i n a cab to the hote l , when I saw the ta l lt owe r of a chu rch loom i ng up i n the even i ng sky , andI asked what chu rch that was and when i t was bu i l t .M y i n forman t an swered that i t was ‘Abou t fou r h und red yea rs old .

’

A t once I thought : ‘Where wasAmer i ca when that chu rch was bu i l t ?

’

Then I beganto see that wh i l e American c i v i l i zat i on i s very broad ,

Eu ropean c i v i l i zat ion i s very deep ; that Americanci v i l i zat i on covers much terr i tory , wh i l e E u ropeanci v i l i zat i on covers much t i me . There i s hard ly a boyor gi r l born i n Eu rope who does not grow up i n thes ight of some famous bat t l efi el d ; some mon umen t ofworld w ide fame ; some old cast l e ; some famous palacet hat speaks from the past : and there are h undreds ofthousands of American s who never i n the i r l i ves haveseen anyth i ng a hund red years old . To them h istoricalperspect i ve is diflicult or i mposs ible .

Hence the mon umen t that th e New England townplaces i n its publ i c sq uare may be qu i te as usefu l asa ny bank or factory , and the tab l e t erected i n marbleo r bro n ze. to commemorate the deeds of the past m ayspeak qu i te as l oud ly as the voi ces of pu lp i t or press .

NEEDHAM ’

S BICENTENNIA L CELEB RAT ION

The bu i l d i ngs that cu l t i vate memory , that speak toi maginat ion and loyal ty , may be the most serv iceab lebu i ld i ng a commun i ty con ta i n s . Hence, we shou ldcarefu l ly mark the spots of loca l and h i stor ical sign ificance i n New E ngland . In every p l ace in these NewEnglan d states where a great bat t l e was fought ; wherea famous man l i ved ; where a noble deed was done;where a great fam i ly h ad i ts hearthstone, some markshou l d be set up to tel l it to thegenerat ion s that fol low .

The men who do not revere t he i r yesterdays deserveno tomorrow.

Th i s i s espec i al ly n ecessary becauseof the s treamsof fore ign b lood that i n these later years are pour ingin to our Amer ican life. I know of on e New Englandc i ty of popu lat i on that has I ta l i an s ;another N ew E ngland ci ty not far away i n a popu lat i onof has French or French Canad i an s . Isomet imes th i nk I find more of old New England i n

filinneapolis an d Seatt le than I find i n Lowel l or Fal l1ver .B ut I am not afra i d of these streams of imm i

gration . I am much more afra i d of t he degeneracyof our Amer ican stock than I am of any danger thatmay come th rough the infi owing of the ol d wor l d . Ourch i ef prob lems are where Amer ican fam i l i es go to s leepand not where a lert and amb i t i ous fam i l i es come tous from across the sea. B u t these fam i l i es who cometo us from Europe must bem ade to know for what ourcoun try stands . They must be made acquai n ted w i thWash i ngton and Adams and Jefferson an d L i n col n andChar les Sumner an d John Rob i n son and M iles Stand ish ;they must know for what the Commonweal th of Massachusetts has stood from the days of Roger Wi l l i amsand E l der B rewster to the presen t t ime. They mustkn ow what ideal s the fathers cher i shed as they bu i l tthese towns and c i t ies . I f we men an d women of the

1 00]

NEEDHAM ’


pol i t i cs our fathers were so much afra i d of cen tral i zedau thor i ty that they del egated on ly certa i n spec ifi edpowers to the general governmen t . We have had morei nd i v i dual i sm i n th i s coun try than i n any other coun trythe sun has shone upon . E very man has sa i d to thegovernment :

‘

Simp ly protect me , and give me a chanceto show what I can do .

’

Now there i s a change com ing over the temper ofour Amer i can l i fe . I t i s n ot t hat the ol d i deal wasfalse, —it was al l t rue, —~but that now is qu i te inadequate . I t i s not that that ol d i dea of sel f - rel i ance an di n d iv i dual i n i t i at i ve was a wrong i dea ,— it was perfect lyr ight ,— bu t i t i s a br i dge that on ly goes hal f - way overthe stream . The supreme q uest i on for Amer ica todayis , —how to preserve that sel f - rel i ance of the fathers ,that personal dar i ng wh ich marked thei r whol e career

,

and yet to at ta i n t hat corporate consc iousness , thatsen se of soc ia l u n i ty and sol i dar i ty , wh ich alone canenab le us to grapp l e w i th the problems of the twen t i ethcen tury .

A new sense of c i v i c duty , a new sense of partnersh i p w i th the state , i s n ow coming i n to our Amer i cancommun i t i es . A l i t t l e t ime ago a great c i ty i n westernPennsy lvan i a awoke to consc iousn ess of i ts own re

m issness an d fa i l u re . I t found that i t was one of themost successfu l c i t i es i n the wor l d i n the maki ng ofsteel . but was often fa i l i ng u tterly i n the making ofmen . I t d i d not put on sackcloth and ashes l ike anc i en tN in evah . B ut i t d i d someth i ng bet ter ; i t appoi n teda commiss ion ; i t summoned a tract ion expert to tel lt he peop le to rel ay thei r car t racks ; i t summoned anarch i tect to tel l t hem how to bu i l d modern tenemen ts , alandscape gardener to cover the d i ngy h i l l s i des wi thhomes for work i ng men ; and that c i ty i s today un dergoi ng a process of soc ia l an d moral regenerat ion .

I t i s not on ly the great c i t i es t hat n eed c i v i c en

1 021

EXERCISES IN TOWN IIA LU—DR . FAUN C I'TI

thusiasm ; i t i s ou r ru ra l towns as wel l . for i n t he ru ra lregion s l i fe often stagnates . I have found grea terproblems i n the smal l v i l lages of New England than Iever found du ri ng ten yea rs

’

res idence i n the met ro

po l i ta n d ist r ict o f New York C i ty . Wha t we needeverywhere i s for every man to rea l ize that he i s a

pa rtner w i th the s ta te . are you bus i ness menierc ton ight . —if I may ta lk d i rec t ly w i th you for amomen t ,—what are you i n bus i ness for ? I have heardmen s ay :

‘ I am not i n bus i ness for my hea l th ; I am i nbus iness to make my l i t t le p i le as q u ickly as I canand ret i re.

’

i f you r m in i ster shou ld say that h ewas i n the bus i n ess o f preach ing for the same obj ect ?

You wou ld never ca re to l i s ten to h im aga i n on Sunday morn i ng . \Vhat i f you r doc tor shou ld say thath i s on ly i n terest i n h i s p ract ice was for the fees t ha the got ou t of i t ? You wou ld say ,

‘ I don’

t w i sh h i m toat tend aga i n my wi fe and ch i ld ren .

’

Wha t i f thesold ier shou ld say tha t h i s only i n teres t i n en l i s t i ngi n the a rmy was h i s mon th ly wage ? You wou ld say ,

‘Str i p off that un i form ; he i s n o fi t sold ier to defend h i scoun try .

'

What i f you r schoo l teacher shou ld say a l lh e ca red abou t educat i on was to get h i s sa la ry and todo as l i t t le teach i ng as he cou ld ? You wou ld s ay :‘

la 'ave the schoo l room ; tha t i s not the type of man wewan t to have as gu ide for ou r ch i l d ren .

’

When a t dead of n igh t the fi re bel l s r i ng you expeet the fi remen to r isk thei r l i ves , wi th no thoughtof the wages that they w i l l rece i ve , i n order to savethe goods beh i nd the coun ters i n you r st ores . Whydo you Cc ct the fi remen to be moved by any h igherp ri nc i p le tha n the man who sel l s the goods beh i nd thecounter ? You demand that the teacher sha l l teachthe sc hoo l from fa i th i n educat ion and love of thech i ld ren . Do you al low the co n tractor who bu i ldsthe schoo l house to bu i ld i t s imply i n order t o pu tmoney i n his purse ?


The t ime i s com i ng when you w i l l demand of thebu i l der of t he school house , and of the man who sel l sgoods beh i n d the coun ter , and of every man who worksi n the mill s an d the factor i es , the same standard wh ichyou now impose upon the sold i er an d the doctor andthe teacher and the mi n i ster . We are com ing to seethat every legi t imate occupat ion i s a k i n d of soc i a lserv i ce, an d i f a man i s not serv i ng the soci a l order , hasno r igh t to be in i t . The a im of the t rue baker is tofeed the hungry ; the a im of the real c loth i er i s to clothethe naked ; the a im of the rea l doctor i s to hea l the s i ck .

I f these men do i t wel l , they w i l l have some fi nanci a lreward ,— an d they deserve it, - but they do not do i tfor t he reward . The man who does i t on ly for thei nd i v i dua l reward i s aga i nst the publ i c weal , he i s notworthy to be named a c i t i zen i n the h ighest sense . B u ta real c i t i zen , a sol d i er of the common good , whetherhe works beh i n d the cou n ter , or i n t he fire station , ori n the m i l l , or the l awyer

’

s office, works as the giver ofsoc ia l serv i ce, str i v i ng to make the wor ld a finer andbet ter p l ace to l i ve i n .

I t i s good to say such a th i ng on Sunday n ight ,but i t i s a good dealbetter to t ry to l i ve i t on Mondaymorn i ng (app l ause.) I have an eas i er task in say ingi t , than you w i l l have i n l i v i ng it in the years to fol low .

I need not tell you the way i n wh ich some contractors t reated the state oi Pennysl van ia when thecap i tal at Harr i sburg was erected . Some of them are

beh i nd pr i son bars today . I n Amer i ca men havesomet imes sa i d the state i s for what they can get ou tof i t , rather than what t hey can pu t i n to i t . The

con tr ibut ion we can make to t he state may not be theerect i on of some great pub l i c bu i l d i ng , i t may not bet he open i ng of a pub l i c l ibrary ; i t m ay be a nob leri deal of manhood , a more unselfish type of serv i ce, amore unswerv i ng devot i on to the common wea l . Tomake that con tr ibut ion is to bea patriot .

N E EDHAM’

s BICENTENN IAL CELEBRATION

to gi ve some spec i a l t ra i n i ng for the tasks of modernl i fe ? ’ I am not goi ng i n to the deta i l s of that greatquest i on ton igh t . B ut I wan t to say th i s , that aftera l l th e great purpose of the school i s not to prepareou r boys an d gi r l s for a j ob , but to prepare them fora l i fe . Whi le I bel i eve i n art i cu lat i ng the school s veryclosely wi th modern occupat ion s , wh i l e I bel i eve i nmaki ng our educat i on as pract i ca l as we can , I alsohold that the great a im i s character rather than knowledge ; i s t o make a type of c i t i zen rather than a k i n d ofworkman ; i s l argeness of comprehens i on and stead i nessof a im , rather than the acqu i remen t of t echn ica l sk i l l .

I hope, t herefore, that wh i l e we make our school si n some respects real ly vocat ional , we shal l rememberthat the ch i ef a im is not to make “ hands” i n our mi l l san d stores , but to make c i t i zen s worthy of the Comm onwealth. We seek the i ncu lcat i on of hab i ts andmethods an d i deals . When a boy goes to the b lackboard to sol ve a problem i n ar i thmet i c or algebra , hemay show that he has the fou r card i na l v i rt ues , or hemay show he i s possessed of the seven deadly s i n s . I ti s a matter of character rather t han of memory . Whenwe ask a pup i l t o t rans l at e a sen tence from some otherl anguage i n to Engl i sh , at once t he type of character i sman i fest ed . One k i nd of pup i l l ooks for help fromsome other pup i l ; he i s afra i d , when he faces t he unseenand unknown . There i s another k i n d of p up i l sel frel i an t an d courageous , t hat dares to face the u nknownwhether i t be a problem i n ar i t hmet ic, a quest ion i nh i story , or t he t rans lat ion of a German sen tence i n toE ngl i sh . The rea l quest ion about your st uden ts i snot how much they can remember but what sort ofpersonal i ty t hey possess ; and i f i n and through ou rpub l i c and pr i vate school s we can give ou r grow i ngyoung peop l e stu rd i ness of character and stead i nessof a im and earnestness of purpose, after a l l we have

EXERCIS RS IN TOWN IIA L If—DR . FAUNCE

gi ven them the ch ief eq u ipmen t for l i fe . I f we have

gi ven them idea l s by wh ich to l i ve , and i f n eed be todie, we have gi ven them the greatest gi ft that ch u rchand school can impart .

Thomas Stephenson bu i l t many l ighthouses alongthe coas t of England that ton igh t a re send ing ou trad iance over the channel , but we owe far more to h i sson , Robert Lo u i s Stephenson , because he taugh t ushow to l i ve cou rageous ly and serenely i n the face ofdanger and t rouble . Wh en Tennyson wrote C rossi ng the Ba r he d id more for England than i f he hadbu i l t t he finest poss i ble harbor for sh ipp i ng . Theteachers i n you r pub l i c school s , and the m i n i sters i nyou r chu rches a re doi ng as much for you r towns as themen who may bu i ld th ings t hat we can see and touch .

They gi ve ou r l i fe i ts ton e and qua l i ty , and teach th epeop le what th i ngs a re rea l ly wort h w h i l e .

I have told my st uden ts many a t ime of the u t terance of Theodore Roosevel t when he was Pol i ce Commiss i on er i n the c i ty o f N ew York . He read for t hefi rst t ime Jacob R i i s

’

s book ca l l ed “ How the Other Ha l fL i ves ,

”and he wan ted to meet the wr i ter . He wen t

down to the lower part of Manhattan and cl imbed thewi nd i ng sta i r and knocked at the doo r . There wasno one there , so M r . Roosevel t took ou t h i s ca rd an dwrote upon it,

“Have read you r book and came tohe lp . Theodore Itoosevelt.

’

I wou ld l ike to prothat as a mot to for every man who has been educatedi n the schoo ls , publ i c or pr i vate , i n th i s Commonwea l th : ‘

We have read the books—th e h istory— the l i teraturem the sc i ence— and now we come fort h to hel p .

’

I wou ld propose t ha t as a motto for a l l who mayj o i n i n the exerc i ses o f th i s week . have seen th eban ners ; we have heard the speakers ; we have l istenedto the mart ia l m us ic ; and now we go fo rt h to hel p ou rcommun i ty to rea l i ze its own v is i on .

’

I gi ve you greet

NEEDHAM ’


i ng ton ight on th is you r fest i val, and w i sh t hat fromnow un t i l i t i s over i t may be an i nsp i r i ng, up l i f t i ngand summon ing occas i on .

”

(Great app l au se .)

Se lect ion by the quartet , Sti l l with Thee.

Benedict ion by Rev . Mr . Wa ldron .

H I STOR I CA L LOAN A R T EXH I B I T

HISTORICAL LOAN ART EXH IB IT

At a meet ing of the New Centur y Club hel d May3rd, 1 9 1 1 . a comm i ttee of five , v i z . , Emma L . Smi th ,

Isabel l e M i l l er , Lou ise Twi gg , Carol i n e G . M i l l s andE l i zabeth W illgoose were appoi n ted to assist t he TownCommit tee i n prepar i ng for the ce lebrat ion of theB i cen ten n ia l of Needham . Th i s committ ee was askedto take ent i re charge of an H i s tor ica l Lo an Art Exb ib i t wh i ch the Town Commi t tee proposed to hold inthe H igh Schoo l Hal l .

After meet i ng and organ i z i ng , we d i v ided the towni n t o sect i ons , and each member of the comm i ttee canvassed gi ven terr i tory . The art ic les prom ised d id notat fi rst seem to number very many , but when the t imecame for co l l ec t i ng we found we had gathered a veryin terest i ng and va l uable col l ect i on . The exh ib i t wasOpened Sunday P . AL , September 1 7 th, and closedTuesday even i ng , du ri ng wh ich t ime over 1 300 nameswere regi s tered , wh ich showed that Needham peopleapprec ia ted h i stor ic subj ects. We unea rthed so manyart ic l es t ha t i f another l i ke exh i b i t were to be he ld , i twou ld requ i re the Town Hal l to accommodate i t . Someof the many i n terest i ng art ic les exh ib i ted were man usc r i pts, samplers, war weapons , musica l i n st ruments,

ancien t dol ls, cut glass , s i l ver and pewter ware, greaselamps and d i fferen t k i nds of lan terns, cand lesticks.

warming pans, foot stoves , sp i n n i ng whee ls , ree ls , great

NEEDHAM ’

S BICENTENNIAL C E LEBRAT ION

assortmen t of p ictu res , fancy bags , fi ne han d em broidery , dresses , bonnets , colash, cha i rs , tab l es , shaw ls,fine assortmen t of ch i na , homespun l i nen , cradle,j ewel ry , D utch k i tchen , Needham

’s first postoffi ce,umbrel l a , hand sew i ng mach i ne, sn uff boxes , vases , etc .

Many expressed a w i sh that Needham migh t establish an h i stor i cal soc i ety , as a permanen t rem inderof our two hundredth ann i versary , as we a l l rea l izethat many art i cl es of h i stor ic i n terest to Needham arebe i ng donated to ou t of town soci et i es . A meet i nghas been ca l led , by - l aws adopted an d officers chosenas fol lows

President, John F . M i l l s ; Vice President, T . Ot i sFull er ; Treasurer, Chester D ewi ng ; Secretary , F redK i ngsbu ry ; Executive Comm ittee, Al ice M . M cIntosh,

Alger E . Eaton , George L . K ingsbu ry and I sabel l eM i l l er .

I t i s hoped on Friday even i ng, Nov . 1 7 th , the twohun dredth ann iversary of the i n corporat ion of thetown , t hat a soc i ety w i l l be permanen t ly organ i zedw i t h a l arge char ter membersh ip .

EMMA L . SM ITH,

PresidentNew Century Club.

1 1 2]

ATH L ET I C E V ENTS

Mom my , Sm w nna 1 8 , 1 9 1 1

Monday . Septembe r 1 8th, was an id ea l day forthe ath let i cs . The tempera tu re was 80 degrees andthe atmosphere perfectly clea r . Such cond iti ons wereconduc i ve to espec i ally fine performances.

T he fi rs t even t was the m i l e run wh ich t ook placein the morn ing at 9 A . M . There were fou rteen en t rees .

The winners were

lst. James I . Dallachie2ud. Denny Su l l i van3rd. Clinton CookT ime. 4 - 5

Second Event . Baseba l l Game, 1 0 A . 51 . Needham Y . M . C . A . vs . Swampscott A . C . Th is prov idedan exc it i ng contest and was won by the Swampscot tA . C .

In the afternoon starting at were the fo l lowing even ts

100 yard dash , hand icap. won bylat. Frank J . Stanwood2nd. Owen Webb3rd . T homas MooreheadT im e. 10 3- 5 wounds .

(1 1 7


7 5 yard dash for boys under 1 5lst. Pau l N ickerson2nd. Gordon B rownvi l le3rd. Charles Crowley

Runn ing H igh Jumplst. Char les D . B urrage, Jr.2nd. L uc ien B urnham3rd. Daniel L . FalveyHeigh t 5 feet , 5 inches

Shot Put—1 2 poundlst. Frank C. Peabody2ud. I rving Ross Stanwood3rd. Danie l L . FalveyD istance, 44 feet, 6 inches

Runn ing B road J umplst. John Moorehead2nd. Bayard S . Foye3rd. I rving Ross StanwoodDistance, 21 feet, 8 inches

220 yard Dashlst. Owen Webb2ud. Lew is W . Hasenfus3rd. Chester M i l lsT ime, 24 1 - 5 seconds

7 5 yard G ir l s’ Race, under 1 5

1 st. Grayce Mitche l l2nd. Muriel Kennedy3rd. Audrey Norton

7 5 yard Sack Racelst. Wallace G. Rae2nd. Rodney S. Adams3rd. W illiam T . Wilson

B ICENTENN IAL CELEBRATION OF THE TOWN

OF NEEDHAM , MASSACHUSETTS

MONDAY E VE NI NG. SEPTEM B ER 1 8 , 1 9 1 1

The l iterary exerc i ses of the even ing were precededby a short conce rt gi ven by the Needham M ilitary Band ,

and al so by the presen ta t i on of prizes to the win nersof the ath le t i c events of the day . These were awa rdedby W . G . Mose ley , Esq . , the cha i rman and pres id ingoffi cer of the occas ion . Fol lowing th i s in terest ing function a ma l e cho rus under the d i rection of Fred S . B irchard rendered

“ To Thee O Country ,

”

by E ich berg .

Tm : Gru mman . A esetts and starti ng West when he reaches a stopp ingpoint is very apt to register as be i ng from Boston . Thefarther south he goes , or west , he soon finds t hat allthat it is necesm ry for him to put on the register isMassachusetts .

Mamachusetts has occup ied a very prom i nentpart in the h istory of the Un ited States . I t has t hatposi t ion by reason of its many noted men , and NorfolkCounty has numbered among its res idents numerousfam iliw who had a great share in the maki ng of the

h istory of th is country . I th in k there is no more notable fam i ly than the one represen ted by our speakerton ight , and I takegreat pleasu re in introducing to youas t he first speaker th is even ing, the Hon . Char lesFrancis Adams" [great applause] .

(is:

NEEDHAM ’S B ICENTENN IAL CELEBRATION

upon under such c ircumstances . When , some weeksago, invited by your commi ttee to take part in yourapproach ing ce leb rat ion , I agreed to do so in ne ighbor ly ,in formalfash ion ; but I d i st inct ly dec l ined to undertakethe p reparat ion of anything elaborate, or what wou ldinvolve research . K nowing noth ing of your loca l h istory , never before have I tarr ied in th i s , your town ofNeedham . I have often , of course, been in Dedham ,

the county seat, and in We l les ley , the home of myvery dear fr iend , the late H . H . Hunnewe l l , in fact ,I have been in al l the ne ighbor ing town s for one purpose or another ; but I have never more than s imp lypassed through Needham , without a l ight ing in it . Iam , therefore, very mu ch of a stranger in yourmidst .

I have, however, on more than one occasionofficiated , and even taken the pr inc ipal part, in centenn ial ce lebrat ion s ; and so doing has led me to cons ider some d i st in ctive features of those a ffairs, andupon those features I propose th i s even ing more es

pecially to dwe l l .In doing so I have got to deal largely in genera l

it ies , and I sha l l moreover make free u se of old mater ia lof my own . To me, it w i l l be somewhat of a tw ice - toldtale ; but you at least have not heard it before . If attimes you find it a b it du l l , or even commonp lace, youmust bear in m ind that you have brought it on yourselves ; I d id not undertake th i s task, and fi nd myselfin an unexpected pos it ion .

In order the more effect ively to beg in on what Ipropose to say, I sha l l refer to an exper ience severa lyears ago , wh ich caused me carefu l ly to reflect on theprinc ipal object of these ce lebrat ions , and how best toconduct them . The exper ience referred to was in connection with the town of Quincy,— the town in th i s ,your County of Norfolk, where I and my peop le before

EXERCISES IN TOWN IIAL Ir FRANCIS ADAM S

m e had been bon e o f its bone and fl esh o f its flesh formore than two lum dred and fi fty yea rs .

It happen ed thu s : near ly twenty yea rs ago ,—in

1 899, I t h ink—they had a cen tenn ia l ce lebrat ionthere , —an occas ion ve ry s im i lar to that you a re oh

serv ing now . The p rogram of the day was to be a rranged , and , in a rrang ing i t , i t was understood that thep repa ra t ion o f the usua l add ress , as it is ca l led ,

—h istorical in character—wou ld devo lve on me . Notre l ish ing the t ask , I d iscussed the matter w ith a fr iendof m ine , now dead ,

—he then in h is own person repre

sen t ing a name assoc iated w i th Qu incy sin ce its beg inn ing . For yea rs he had been w i th me a stand - by intown meet ings ; and now , in the cou rse of ta lk , I re

ferred to a n address as one estab l ished featu re of acommemoration , te l l ing h im frankly that I was ti redof such, and, in my j udgmen t , the day of such performanees was over ; that we had , in fac t , been de lugedw ith them , especia l ly s ince what might we l l enoughhe descr ibed as the Epoch of Revo lut iona ry Gentenn ia ls ,—then more fresh in reco l lect ion t han now . Thenot unna tura l resu l t had fo l lowed , and , as we a ll knowfrom ou r ind iv idua l exper iences , we tu rned with a

sense of wear iness , if not indeed of su rfe it and evenment al nausea , from those col umns of the da ily paper ,headed w i th the announcement that yet one morecommemora t ion had been observed in the customaryway w ith an address, o r an orat ion . These performances, whether rhetorica l or h istor ica l , or both , had ,

I then wen t on to argue , at one t ime se rved the ir pur

pose . and, in its day , a usefu l purpose ; for in them was

recorded much of h istor ical inte rest and even valuethat otherw ise m ight no t have been p reserved . Butth is was before the days of h istorical societ ies and townh istories : and the ora t ion or add ress has now bm me

a med ium by means of which a quan tity of eloquence


or sentiment, of small present and , so far as my observation went, of no future va lue, was forced on thejaded eye and ear of an inattentive pub l ie,—forgottenas soon as uttered ; and the ir ye l low ing pages even thefuture loca l ant iquar ian was not l ike ly to d i stu rb ; for ,as Ha l lam , the Eng l i sh h istor ian observed , w i th awarm th of language in h i s casenot customary , in theserespects

‘

our Publ ic L ibraries are cemeteries of departed reputat ion s ; and the dust wh ich accumulateson their unopened volumes speaks not less forc ib ly thanthe grass wh ich waves over the ruin s of B abylon .

’

And I further then went on to te l l my fr iend ,‘

Almost every per iod has some favorite mode of expression , —in Massachusetts we once, and for a cen turyand a half, had an era of sermon s and pu lp i t d i scourses ,and it indilstriously stored up a. vast l iterature of thatdescr ipt ion , the present drear iness of wh ich i s inexpress ib le ; ours ,

’— for th i s was about the year 1 890,‘has been the century of orat ions and secu lar addresses ,—the C iceron ian per iod of America ; and so , dur ingit , rhetoric and e l oquence , much too often of the t in sel ,academ ic sort , were made to serve the purpose wh ichlogic and theolog ical fervor had previou s ly served .

’

And, fina l ly , I expressed the bel ief that the student ofthe twentieth century wou ld hold th i s form of exp ress ion of our time in not much greater value than weheld the sermons and occasiona l d i scourses of ourfathers . But we too w i ll have seen ourse lves in print !

As I argued thus, the fr iend to whom I have referred refused to accept my conc lus ion s , rep ly ing thatin h i s judgment it was inexped ient on occasion s l ikethat then in V iew, or l ike th i s of you rs , to d i spen se w iththe time - honored featu re of an address . He not inapt ly compared it to the p lant ing of a mi lestone ,marking for a l l future t ime some point wh ich a community had reached in its end less journey . Here we pause


the address on th e occas i on i n quest ion , —I helped plantanother m i lestone . A l l th ings come to h im who

wa i ts ,’ and so, am i d present i nd i fference , my appea l

then was to the n ext century , even to a centu ry laterthan the twent ieth . So now, i n you r own case , th i stown wi l l present ly celebrate its th ree hundred th ann iversary ; i ndeed , i t i s j ust as certa i n that Needhame ither by i tse l f or as part of some larger mun ic ipa l i ty ,wi l l be here and wi l l cel ebrate i n 20 1 1 as i t i s that notone of us w i l l be here then . And why may i t not wel lbe that i n the year 2 1 1 1 , above our very gravestonescrumbl ing , those dwel l i ng here may aga i n rest for aspace as they come to the fou r h un dred th m i l estone ,and in doing so hun t up the record of th i s very day ,now drawing to i ts c lose, j ust as twenty years ago Iat Qu incy hunted up the sermons of the Rev . JohnHancock , dwel l i ng for the momen t with cu r ios ity anddeepest i nterest on that memor ia l of a remote past ,clasp i ng hands , so to speak , across two centu r ies .

Yet wh i le, in face of th i s presentat ion I then atQu incy withdrew my object ion s to a forma l orat ionor h istor i ca l address , I cou l d not fa i l to reflect on whatwas appropr iate to such occas ions ; nor can I now butrevert in memory to an exper ien ce I at a later day had ,when a d ist i ngu ished gen tl eman f rom a d istan t State , inv ited to del i ver an address on the cen ten n ia l of a certa i ntown i n a neighbor ing cou n ty , in stead of d i lat i ng on thatwh ich had an app l i cat ion to the fam i ly he was addressi ng , or was app1 opriate to that p lace and such an oc

cas ion , somewhat su rpr ised , and I am obl iged to say ,a l i tt l e fat igued us , by a l ong and to a certain degree,i nterest ing d iscou rse upon some h is tor i ca l event wh ichhad , cons i derab ly over a centu ry before , been con n ec tedwi th the devel opmen t of a por t i on of the m ighty Westthe Ordinance of 1 7 87 , I th ink it was . Ind isputab lygood in its way , what he sa i d certa i n ly d id not concern

EXERCISES IN TOWN IIALL—CHARLES FRANCIS A DAMS

the parti cu lar commun ity then observ i ng its nata lfes t i va l—i ts pecu l ia r day of fete . T hat expe r ience i tbehooves me to bear f resh ly i n mind to - n igh t .

B ut , le t m e now aga i n premise and d is t i nctly rc

peat,I am not h ere to i ns t ruct you th i s even ing on

you r loca l h is tory ; tha t is a su bject w i th wh ich I profess no fam i l i a r i ty . Moreover , d id I attemp t so do i ngI wou ld be t respass i ng on the prov in ce of thegen t lemanwho is to fo l l ow me . I sha l l dwe l l , the refore , as I havea l ready to ld you , l a rge ly on genera l i t ies ; and , to i l l ustrate what I mean by genera l i t ies , I wi l l beg i n by goingfa r back .

You ha ve hea rd , poss ib ly , of tha t advoca te who ina cou rt of l aw began h i s a rgumen t w i th a refe ren ce toAdam and th e garden of Eden , and was me t w i th adespa i r i ng appea l f rom the Cou rt to beg i n a t least w i ththe de l uge . B u t I propose to go back beyond the de lu ge ,'—back even of Adam and Eden—far beyond bo th .

They , i n compa r i son , a re of yes te rday . The l a te D r .Holmes was on ce asked by an anx ious mothe r at w hatage the ed uca t i on of a ch i l d shou ld beg i n ; wi th thati nci s ive wi t al ways cha rac ter i st i c of h im , the gen i a lAutocrat repl ied ,

‘Madam , i t shou ld beg i n about ahund red and fif ty yea rs before i t i s born .

’

T here is much tru th i n th at ; and i t has a spec i a lappl i cat ion to our New Eng land town s . I propose toa p p ly i t on th i s two hund red th ann iversa ry . Whend id the educat ion , so to speak , of Need ham beg in ?

When was its fu tu re dest i ny fix ed for i t ? You w i l lposs i b ly be su rp r ised w hen I tel l you i t began as nea ras can be ascert ai ned about e igh t thousand yea rs ago .

I n o ther words , the re i s a featu re con nec ted wi th t h esece lebra t ion s in wh i ch my attent ion has twice beenca l led , though , so fa r as I am aware , no one bu t m ysel f has ever i n these con nec t ions d rawn a t t en t ion toi t ; yet i t i s a th ing wh ich mos t v i ta l ly effec t s the whol e


present l i fe of th e p lace . How many i n th is aud ience ,- i n tel l igen t, school - taugh t , l ec tu re - going , browsers

among t he books of you r Pub l i c L ibrary ,— how many ,I say , of t hose h ere rea l ize that i n the case of you rNeedham of to - day , i t s products , i ts i n dustr ies , thel ines on wh ich i t has developed , and its modes of l i fe ,were a l l pre - destined ? In other words , i t s futu re ofto - day , —you r present,— was fixed for i t by even ts an dprocesses s l owly occurr ing dur ing u n counted ages pr iorto t he firs t records of t he human race ; but processesand even t s wh ich , wi th a l i t t l e observat i on an d study ,

we can s t i l l approx imately t race . T hey are inscr ibedl argely an d leg ib ly on t he face of th e land , in i ts h i l l sand vall eys , rocks and so i l , have we on ly pat ience toread the language and s igns in wh ich they are wr itten .

B ut l et me find an i l l u s t rat i on of what I mean i n myown case,— th e town i n wh ich I l i ve, th e p lace on wh ichI dwel l . L i n col n , i n lVI iddlesex coun ty , i s some twen tym i l es on ly from here . I n the case of L in col n , as in th ecase of Needham , t h e pas t d iv i des itse l f i n to two port i on s , ~ -the pre - historic,and t he h istor i c ; and the h istor i ci s a mere f r inge on the garment of wh ich the pre - h istor i c cons t i tu tes immeasu rab ly the more cons iderab l epor t i on . Our records in L i n coln , yours here in Needham , ou r mos t remote t rad i t i on s even , are bu t of yes terday . Ou rs , t here , go back to 1 7 44 , a couple of cen tu r i espossib ly at mos t , cover ing the l i ves of perhaps s i xgen erat i ons of ch i l d ren of t h e soi l . I n the case of Needham , as in the case of L i nco l n , beh ind that stretchesa vast u nknown , a ver i tabl e t ime—Sahara . To theh i s tor ian , proper ly speak ing , that t ime - Sahara wi l lremain forever a sea l ed book ; b ut the geol og i st has toa degree exp lored i t . I t s t retches back to that remoteIce Age wh ich gave to Massachusetts , as a geograph ica lexp ress ion , th e character i t bears to - day . Then wasd ictated i n advance for each l oca l i ty what shou l d be

NEEDHAM ’

S B ICENTENNIAL CELEBRATION

and more accurate observat ion , we know that , howeverl ong th i s i ce age may have en dured , i t passed away andthe earth hereabou ts assumed i ts present shape at acompara t i ve ly recent date, some 8000 years ago perhaps . Pr i or to that , i nstead of be ing some ten or adozen m i les f rom the ocean , Needham was probab lyfi f ty m i les f rom i t , wh i l e its a l t i tude above the sea wasmore t han twice what i t now is . B oston was thenfor ty m i l es in land , and a large r i ver wi t h i t s affluents,predecessor of the Merr imac, dra i ned the countryhereabou ts . F l owing down from the New Hampsh i reh i l l s , i t found an out let , i t i s surm ised , not where th eMerr i mac now empt ies i tse l f , but th rough th i s , thetown of Needham , and down the va l l ey of the Char l es .T hen came the i ce age, and du r ing centur ies unnumbered , New E ng lan d was what northern G reen land andthe reg ion about the pol e now i s , —0 ne unbroken areaof frozen matter , i t s surface dot ted by bou lders , m ov

i ng towards the southeast in s i lent, p it i less march .

Th is indescr ibab le desolat i on was , i t i s supposed , ami l e or more i n sol i d dep th , overtopp ing the summ itsof you r h i l l s by severa l thousand feet . When a l l th i sreg i on , the crest of Mt . Wash ington even , was submerged by th i s sea of i ce , Needham lay here , crushedand mu te u nder a super incumbent burden of to usi nconcei vab le th i ckness and weight . G radua l ly , aftera lapse of years concern ing wh ich we cannot even forman est imate , from causes wh ich wi l l probab ly never beascerta in ed , cl imat ic changes came about , and the i cesheet began to melt away . I ts front i er , at the per i odof greatest developmen t , had been some forty m i leseast of Nan tucket an d south of Cape Cod , some 1 00 to1 30 m i l es from Needham . Then as fol d b y fol d it receded , was t i ng away under a l tered cl imati c i nfluen ces ,the con t i nen t beneath it emerged , assum ing as it d i d soa whol ly new contou r.

EXERCISES IN TOWN HAL Ir—C IIARLES FRANCIS ADAMS

I have sa id that the fina l emergence of the NewEng land we know may have occu rred at a comparat ive lyrecen t pe r iod—mot mo re than 8000 yea rs ago . Yet incompa r ison w i th 8000 yea rs how wretched ly sma l l afew scant cen tu r ies o f mun ic ipa l l i fe appea r , a fr ingesca rce bo rdering a ga rmen t of unmeasu red s ize . Whenthe emergence took p lace , the water sheds , becauseof the shee r we ight imposed by the i ce upon the crustof the earth , were no longer as they had been be fo re ,the brooks and streams find ing new channe l s and outlet s . The inter ior had become the seaboa rd . and theo ld seaboa rd ma rked the edge of what a re known as

deep - sea sound ings , some fi fty mi les beyond ou r p resen tcoast . In the further inte r ior the contou r of the continent had undergone a tota l change . The formers u rface had been ground down o r scraped away , theh i l ls had been den uded , the va l leys fi l led up . A lmosteveryth ing had been d isp laced . When not gougedaway , the so i l had been bod i l y l i fted up and ca rr iedinto remote reg ions—the count ies o f Ba rn stab le andP lymouth , or perhaps , borne st i l l fu rther on , had l i tera l ly been empt ied into the sea .

I am not su ffic ien t l y fami l ia r w i th the reg ion hereabouts to ventu re even a s u rmise as to i ts forme r aspeet o r the reason of its p resent cond i t ions . I can ,

however , find an i l l ustrat ion in my own case wh ichcou ld p robab ly be d up l icated in any of the s is ter towns .In L in co ln the hou se in wh ich I l ive faces a lake in towh ich and from wh ich flows a r iver , the Sudbu ry .

—oneo f the two st reams wh ich lower dow n b ecome knownas the Concord , and as such meanders into the M e rr in ine . The shee t of water be fore my w indows is knownas Fa i rhaven Bay . I l ive . in fact . a t th e bo ttom o fwhat was on ce a g lac ia l lake o f very co ns iderab le s ize .Fa i rhaven Bay be ing the last res id u um of what wasleft when the barr iers d isso lved and the g lacial lake


dra ined away . A l l th i s can be read , and I have da i lyoccas ion to study i t , in every feat u re of the propertyon wh ich I dwe l l . The soi l reflects i ts or ig in ; i t i s l itt lebut sand and mar l , w ith here and there a bou lder . Iti s fi l led w i th kames and hol lows , —askers and sandp lain s , as the geolog i sts term them ,

—ind icat ing pointswhere g lac ia l r ivers deposited the ir sed i men t , or theice

,me lt ing away , left a cavi ty in the earth . The

trees and products of the soi l reflect the i r or ig in . W ithno tr ue pastu re land , there i s hard ly any accumu lat ionof loom . The oak and the p ine in a l l the i r variet iesare ind igenou s . From the t ime the ice receded theuses to wh ich that terr itory cou ld be put were foreorda ined . To those u ses it i s p ut to - day .

Unquest ionab ly i t i s the same w i th Needham asw ith L incoln . Study your soi l and the contour of you rtown , and you read your dest iny . Yet unt i l w i th inthe memory of those now l iving th i s , so c l ose ly identifi ed w i th our da i ly be ing, was a study not conce ivedof as possib le .

Passing on from that wh ich i s pre - h i stor ic ,from i ts vagueness , i ts immen si ty , and the we l l - n ighinconce ivab le durat ion and force of powers at work init

,to me in many respects far the more interest ing of the

two per iods , -passing on , I say , from the p re - h istor ic ,we come to the h i stor ic , that of yesterday , in wh ichNeedham at last became known as such . For 8000years or thereabouts the forest had covered the land ,i ts sole occupants the w i ld man and i ts an ima l l i fe .At last you appeared , and , in 1 7 1 1 , on ly two centur iesback

,the l oca l ity assumed the name by wh ich you

have s ince as a commun ity been kn own .

On the 5 th of November, 1 7 1 1 , the record te l l sus Needham , theretofore dur ing a lmost a cen turypart of .Dedham , was incorporated as an independentpol it ical entity . But even 1 7 1 1 takes us somewhat

NE EDHAM’


Nor, indeed , i s th i s in any way surprising ; muchless does it const itute ground for rep roach . The memory of that per iod , and , for that matter , of the fi rst ha lfof the e ighteenth centu ry , has been ob l iterated , fi rst

,

by the succeed ing per iod of greater h i stor ic interestconnected w i th what i s known as our Revol ut ionarytroub les , an d , next , by the per iod when Massachusetts ,become a Commonwea l th , as one of a s isterhood ofstates took part in the War of Secess ion . What isknown , therefore , as t he p rovinc ia l per iod of M assachusetts,

— that i s the period from 1 684 , when the fi rstcharter was vacated , to 1 7 80, when the p resen t const itution was adopted , i s a per iod of s low growth , d i st inct lylack ing in everyth ing wh ich goes to the mak ing of h i storical interest . A century of sma l l th ings and sma l lissues , the success ion of men who then , by appoin tmentfrom London , fi l led the office of Governor , has so entirely passed out of memory that , w ith the except ionof Thomas Hutch inson and M aj or General ThomaGage , not one cou ld be n amed by the average M assachusetts inhab i tan t . In the case of Needham , a certa inspec ia l interest does , however , as I have sa id , attachto Gov . Joseph Dud ley , for h i s was the name affixed toyou r act of incorporat ion , passed in the n inth year ofh is admin i strat ion . I propose consequent ly , for th isreason , to exhume , as i t were , Gov . Dud ley , and say afew words concern ing h im . A son of old Thomas Dudley , who came over before Gov . W inthrop , and was infact the first Governor of M assachu setts B ay Colony ,

Joseph Dud ley , a gradu ate of Harvard , was in h i s dayan accomp l i shed p rovincia l gent leman , —a man ofab i l ity and a man of note . In that one of the L egendsof the Province Hou se , ent it led

“Howe ’s M asquerade,”

Hawthorne has g iven us a descr ip t ion of h i m— brief,but graph ic and to the point . As , in that ta le , he cameforward in the funera l procession of governors of New

E XERCISE S IN TOWN IIAL Ir—C IIAR LES FRANCIS ADAMS

Eng land , descend ing the sta i rcase of th e Prov inceHouse to K ing G eorge

'

s funera l d i rge , Hawthorn edescr ibes h im as a m an w i th a ‘though tfu l , an xiou s ,and somewhat cra fty express ion of face ; and in sp i teof h is loft iness o f manne r . wh ich was ev iden t ly the

resu l t of an amb it iou s sp i r i t and o f long cont inuan cein h igh st at ions , he seemed not incapab le o f cr ing ing toa greater than h imse l f . ’ F i rst and las t M assachu settshas numbered cons iderab ly ove r s i xty G overnors ,whether of co lony , Prov ince o r Commonwea lth , andJoseph Dud ley occup ied the cha i r o f state longest o ft hem a l l . “li en he d ied in 1 7 90 the yea r o f the famousSou th Sea B ubb le— the Boston News- Letter refe rredto h im as h av ing been ‘a s ingu la r honor to h is country ,

and in many respects the g l ory of it ' ea r ly i ts da r l ing .

a lways its o rn amen t , and in h is age its crown .

’ S incethen , however. the h istor ians of ou r own t ime havedea lt somewhat ha rsh ly w ith h im ; the last , and bestin formed thus summing up the man z—‘To j udge Du dley

’

s ca ree r b y the accusa tions of h is enemies wou ld beman i fest ly un fa i r . To j udge h im in the l ight of thetwent iet h cen tu ry . when the co lon ies have become iadependen t , wou ld be equa l ly un fa i r . As has been sa id ,

his l i fe fe l l in the midd le per iod , when dependence onEng land was d im in ish ing and independence was notyet poss ib le . .Though h is cha racte r was lacking in greatness , and h is act ion s were o ften ta in tedby se l f - seek ing , though h is a im s were those o f an Engl i sh o ffi c ia l and h is idea ls opposed to those of h is fe l lowco lon ists , h is long ca ree r p roves h im to have beencapab le a s an admin ist ra to r and effi c ient a s a servanto f the crown .

’

Leav ing h im whose name is a ffi xed to the pa rchment wh ich converted Needham from be ing a Prec inctinto be ing a Town , and pass ing to other top ics mostUsua l ly dwe l t upon on these occas ions , I now want to

NEEDHAM’


propound some queries . ‘Why ,’

I wou ld first l ike toask ,

‘ is i t that such extreme p rominence is in anniver

sary addresses a lmost invar iab ly given to t imes andep i sodes connected w ith wars and mi l i tary operat ion s ? ’

Take for in stance your own case z—Needham boastsa corporate and cont in uou s h i story of 200 years . Th i s ,as such th ings go, i s a V ery respectab le ant iqu ity ; anddur ing that t ime i ts women have never heard an Ind ian ’s warwhoop , or seen the smoke of an enemy

’s campfire . In point of fact , no war or i ts operat ion s , i tssuccesses or its reverses , s ince the death of h im knownin our anna l s as K ing Ph i l ip , has exerci sed any d irectinfluence on Needham ’s h i story , or affected to anyapp rec iab le extent the town ’s development . K ingPh i l ip met h i s death in 1 67 6 . In the War of Secessionas in Queen Anne ’swar, in the French wars , and in theWar of Independence, though in far less degree com

paratively to popu lat ion an d resources in the War ofSecess ion than in any one of the others named , Needham doubt less was ca l led on for contr ibut ion s in material, in money , and in men . B u t a fter those strugg les ,as dur ing them , Needham

’

s li fe moved on absolute lyund i stu rbed in the even tenor of its wonted way ,qu ite unchanged . The same type of peop le l ived inthe ir cu stomary manner , p ursu ing the estab l i shed oc

cupations; generat ions were born , went to school , weremarr ied and had offspr ing, grew old and d ied , as the irfathers and mothers had done before them, as the i rson s and daughters were to do after them . A few ofthe younger men—possib ly one in ten of the ent irepopu lat ion— responded to the long - interva l led ca l l s toarms ; but of the great , far - away even ts in wh ich thosemen took p art on ly echoes reached the town ; and yetwhat the town d id in connect ion with those memorab lebu t d istant events becomes in every address and inevery h i storica l narrat ive the stap le of the story . Th i s ,

NEEDHAM ’


but one event dividing by a line of demarcation—a

line clear and unmistakable—the old from the new .

The year 1 834 was by th is made memorab le .

Happen ing on the 7 th of Ju ly seventy - seven yearsago, who among Needham

’

s inhab itants now livingremembers that occasion ? Doubt less some such thereare among your octogenar ian s ; but I great ly quest ionif one is here present . It so chances , however , thatover the life - time of a generat ion ago I had occas ionto look up the inc idents of that day and to write anaccount of what took p lace . Th i s I propose now tocontribute to your ce lebrat ion— a leaf , and an important one, in Needham

’

s loca l h i story .

Throughout the year 1 833 the railroad from Boston to Worcester had been in cou rse of construct ion ;and one day , in the latter part of March , 1 834, the fi rstlocomotive ever used in Massachusetts was set inmotion . The readers of the Boston Daily Advertiserwere then advised that ‘ the ra ils are la id , from Bostonto Newton , a distance of n ine or ten mi les , to wh ichplace it is proposed to run the passenger cars as soonas two locomotives sha l l be in read iness , so as to en sureregu lar ity . One locomot ive, ca l led the M eteor, hasbeen partially tried and w i l l p robab ly be in read inessin a few days ; the second , ca l led the Rocket, i s wa itingthe arrival of the bui lder for subjecting it to a tria l ,and the third it is hoped w ill be ready by the first ofMay .

’

The last name locomot ive , the Rocket, hadb een constructed in the shops of the Stephen son s atN ewcastle- upon - Tyne, in Eng land , and

“ the b u i lder”

Whose arrival was thu s anxious ly looked for must havebeen an English mechanic spec ia l ly sent out to superintend the putt ing of it in operat ion .

We are next told by an eye witness , who longafterwards put his recol lections in writ ing, when thelocomotive was ‘placed upon the track, its driver, who

E XERCIS ES IN TOWN II AL Ir - C IIARL ES FRANCIS ADAM S

came w ith i t from Eng land , stepped upon the p latform w i th a lmost the a i rs o f a j ugg ler o r a p rofessoro f chemist ry , p laced h is hand Upon the lever , and w i tha s l igh t move o f i t the eng ine started a t a speed wo rthyo f the compan ion o f the rocket amid the shou ts andcheers o f the mu l t i tud e . It gave m e such a shock , tha tmy ha i r seemed to sta rt from the roots , ra ther than tosta nd on end .

’

Th is feat o f legerdema in was perfo rmed in M a rch ; and , on t he 1 5 th o f the fo l low ingmonth , the fi rst sect ion of the Boston andra i l road was opened , two t r ips be ing made each waybetween Boston and N ewton . The regu la r passenge rra i l road serv ice in M assachusetts dates , there fo re , fromthat day .

By the end o f the fo l low ing Jun e the road wasfin ished as fa r as N eedham , and on the 7 th o f Ju ly i twas forma l ly opened to tha t po int ; when

‘the stockho lde rs and a n umber o f other gent lemen , to the n umber o f about two hund red in a l l , by inv i tat ion of thed i rectors , made an excu rs ion to N eedham , in e ightpassenge r ca rs d rawn by the n ew locomot ive Yankee

The excu rs ion was p leasan t , and the pa rty ap

peared to en joy the r ide , and the beau t i fu l scenerywh ich is p resented to v iew on d i fferen t pa rts of theroute .

’

The fa rthe r extens ion to IIopkinton was com

pleted by Sep tember , and so on the Q Oth o f tha t mon thanother excu rs ion , some two hund red in n umber , wen tout from Boston in seven of the company

'

s la rgestpassenger ca rs d rawn by the l ocomot ive Yankee, anddu ly ce lebrated the occas ion .

‘Thcy sta rted off’

asthe Adverti ser o f the fo l low ing day sta ted ,

‘a t a rap idand steady pace . The wea ther was un usua l ly fine . andthe sweetness of the a tmosphere , the rap id i ty o f themot ion , and the bea uty and nove l ty of the scene rywh ich was success ive ly p resented to v iew , appea redto prod uce in a l l the pa rty an agreeab le exh i lara t ion

NEEDHAM ’

S B ICENTENNIAL CELEBRATION

of spirits .’ At Framingham the excursionists weremet by John Davis , then Governor of the Commonwealth , by ex- Governor L incoln and other gentlemenfrom Worcester, who got upon the tra in and went withit to Hopkinton , where it arr ived at ha l f past threeo ’clock and was received with a sa lute of art i l lery, thecheers of the popu lace and an address from the vi l lageauthorities ; after wh ich , under escort of a companyof riflemen , the whole party went to Captain Stone

’stavern , where a col lation had been provided .

‘Wh i lethe party were at tab le the lad ies were invited to takeseats in the cars, and the m i l itary w i th the ir band ofm usic to take a stand upon the tops of the cars , wherethey were formed in sections . In th i s manner theymade an excursion of several mi les down the road andback, which they appeared to en j oy h igh ly . As theyreturned , the m i l itary on the tops of the cars approachedthe hotel with arms presen ted and mus ic playing .

’

While the wars to which I have referred, occurringperiodica l ly through a century and a half of your town ’

sex i stence left no percept ib le mark on it, the event justdescribed inaugurated for Needham , as for its s istertown s , a comp lete revolution in occupation , in education , in rel igion , in thought, and in dai ly and fami lylife . That date, therefore , one hundred and twentythree years from the incorporat ion , seventy - seven yearsago , marks the divid ing l ine between the Needham ofthe old Massachusetts provinc ia l period, and the Needham as we see it to - day , and you know it .

And now to proceed w i th the queries I proposedto propound z—How long before Ju ly , 1 834, I wou ldlike next to ask, had your first post - offi ce been established? Quite an inc ident in your h istory, what factshave you preserved concerning it? How many p iecesof ma i l- matter were at first handled in itP—Whatwere its annual receipts prior to 1 850? Late in

NEEDHAM ’S BICENTENN IAL CELEBRATION

character . ’ Yet, somewhat a student of h i story , I canfind no ground on wh ich to base th i s p leasant fancy .

Taken a l together , I do not be l ieve that the mora ls ofNeedham or of her s ister town s were on the average asgood in the e ighteenth cen tury as they are in the twentieth. The peop le were sterner and graver , the law andthe mag i strate more severe ; bu t h uman nat ure was thesame , and wou ld have vent . There was , I am inc l ined toth ink , more hypocr i sy in those days than now ; but Ihave seen noth ing wh ich has led me to be l ieve that thewomen were more chaste , or that the men were moretemperate , or that , in pro l

w rtion to popu lat ion , feweror less degrad ing cr i mes were perpetrated . Certa in lythe ear l ier generat ions were as a race not so char i tab leas the ir descendants , and less of a sp i r i t of k ind ly Ch r i stian ity p reva i led among them .

Let u s for a moment , in a rea l i st ic mood , face thefacts of that severe and somewhat un l ove ly per i od .

And first , of mora l s . The ear ly church records ofNeedham , I am advised , no longer exist ; and , perhaps ,i t i s we l l for the good names of not a few of you r families that the fire of Ap r i l 23 , 1 7 5 1 , swept away the oldM eet ing - house , and w i th i t the documen ts there stored .

The records of the chu rches of many of your s istertown s , however , st i l l rema in ; and , of some of these ,I have made h i stor ica l u se . Those who care so to domay fami l iar ize themse lves w ith my conc l us ion s . Sofar as mora l ity i s concerned , the p ictu re presented i snot of a character wh ich wou ld lead u s to covet for oursons and daughters a recu rrence of that past .

Next , temperance z— As respects the fin - temperanceof that colon ia l per iod , I myse l f caught a you thfu lg l impse of i ts van ish ing sk irts . D i st inct ly do I reca l lthe V i l lage tavern , w ith i ts bar - room and post - otfi ceaccompan imen t ;— for in Qu incy , in my youth , bar - roomand post - offi ce were one, —and, moreover, the vi l lage

N EEDHAM’

s BICENTENNIAL CELEBRATION

house and the hospital . In those days the care of thedemented was farmed out to h im or her who wou ldassume i t at the lowest charge to the pub l ic . Even aslate as 1 843 , and in the immed iate ne ighborhood ofBoston , naked maniacs cou ld be confined in cages ,or un l ighted sheds , connected w ith the a lmshou se or

abutt ing on the public way . Or take th i s other Weymouth record of August 98, 1 7 83 , exactly one yearbefore my own ancestor, Rev . W i l l iam Smith , wasorda ined the min i ster of the town -

‘

V oted by theTown to g ive Twenty pounds to any person who willtake two of the ch i ldren of the W idow R uth Harvey

(that i s) the E ldest Daughter and one of the youngestdaughters (a tw in ) and take care Of them unt i l theybe e ighteen years Old.

’

Twenty pounds in those days was of themoney Of ou r days ; and that in old tenor b i l l s ! Apub l ic inducemen t to baby - farm ing i s not now heldout . And so I m ight go on to the c lose of the chapter,d id t ime permit . But M acau lay has sa id it al l before ,and why now repeat in more prosaic terms the taleof anc ient wrong ? Rather let me c lose what I have tosay on th i s top ic w ith the fol low ing passage from h isH i story :

‘It i s now the fash ion to p lace the golden agein t imes when nob lemen were dest itu te of comforts thewant of wh ich wou ld be intolerab le to a modern footman ; when farmers and shop - keepers breakfasted onl oaves the very sight of wh ich wou ld ra i se a r iot in amodern work - house ; when to have a c lean sh irt oncea week was a p r ivi lege reserved for the h igher class Ofgentry ; when men d ied faster in the purest countrya ir than they now d ie in the most pesti lentia l lanes ofour towns , and when men d ied faster in the lanes ofour towns than they now d ie on the coast of Gu iana.

There i s scarce ly a page of the history or l ighterliterature of the seventeenth century which does not

EXERCISES IN TOWN RA Llr —CIIA RLES FRANCIS ADASIS

conta in some proo f that ou r an cestors were less humanthan the i r poste ri ty . The d isc ip l ine of work - shops ,O f schoo ls , of p r ivate fami l ies , though no t more effic ientthan at p resen t , was infin ite ly ha rsher . M asters , we l lborn and bred , were in the hab i t of beat ing the i r servan ts . Pedagogues kn ew of no way of impart ingknow ledge bu t by beat ing the i r pup i ls . Husbands ,of decen t sta t ion , were not a fra id to beat the i r wives.

.The more ca re fu l ly we examine the histo ry Of the

past , the more reason sha l l we find to d issen t from thosewho imag in e that the ev i ls a re , w i th sca rce ly an except ion , old . That wh ich is new is the in te l l igence wh ichd isce rns , and the human i ty wh ich remed ies them .

’

And now , in c los ing , let me reve rt to the thoughtw i th wh ich I began—the Centenn ia l M i lestone andthe commemorat ion sermons of the Reve rend JohnHanco ck de l ivered in the North Prec inct Meet inghouse of B ra intree, now Qu incy , in 1 7 40 .

M utato nom ine dc teFabula narratur ;

A centu ry ago, when a l ready for a hund red yearsNeedham had been set o ff from Dedham , a townsh ipby i ts el f , the Iteverend S tephen Pa lmer was i ts minister . A graduate of Harva rd . in its c lass of 1 7 89,

orda ined here in 1 7 952, M r . Palmer served accep tab lyas you r pastor un t i l 1 82 1—nea r ly th irty yea rs , iac lud ing the fi rs t cen tenn ial of the town . How , o r towhat extent , that ann iversa ry was then observ ed I donot know ; I have not in uired . It is recorded that noless than twenty pr intedpub l icat ions of Mr . Pa lmerhave come down to us , se rmons o r add resses on spec ialoccasions . Among those occas iona l add resses no t improbab ly the re m ay exist on e on Needham

'

s F i rstCen tenn ial . If so . i t shou ld now be exhumed , and again

[ 1 53

NEEDHAM ,S BICENTENN IA L CELEBRAT ION

brought to l ight and l ife as a featu re of th i s ce lebrat ionfor 1 8 1 1 came about at a per iod when here the Un i tedStates was tremb l ing on the verge of a war w i th G reatB r i ta in , and in E urope Napoleon was p repar ing toembark on h is fata l R u ss ian ven tu re . And now , th inkI pray you , how m uch i t wou ld have mean t for youand , indeed , for u s a l l , i f at that t i me the Rev . StephenPa lmer , had bethought h imse l f to do what wou ldhave been a l together possib le ; —ii as the Rev . JohnHancock set out to do in B ra intree fifty years before ,but , in doing, fa i led— he had de l ivered a centenn ia laddress in wh ich , not dea l ing w i th quest ion s of doctr ine or indu lg ing in flights of rhetor ic, he had described exact ly what the town of Needham then was .Of what great va lue and how intense ly interest ingthat d i scourse and descr ip t ion wou ld be today ! Hadhe then spoken of the roads , had he spoken of thetaverns , had he spoken of the school s , had he descr ibedthe indu str ies , the mora l s and the modes of l i fe, whathe then sa id wou ld now for u s be a p r ice less possess ion .

Then in c los ing , let me ask why you do not der ivea lesson from the past , and , project ing yourse l f intothe future, do for your poster i ty what was not donefor you . Th i s i s the lesson I have to suggest for you rce lebrat ion .

You are p lant ing a mi lestone to - day ; the mi lestonewh ich marks the end of t he second hun dred years ofthe end less journey Needham w i l l traverse . We th inkof the future as being l ike the p resent ; so d id they of1 8 1 1 . I imag ine, however, it i s no exaggerat ion tosay that dur ing the next hundred years the changeswh ich w i l l take p lace w i l l not be less epocha l , not lesspervasive, than the changes wh ich have taken p lacedur ing the h undred years now j ust ended .

When , therefore, men and women of Needham ,

your descendants and successors meet here a. century

NEEDHAM ’S BICENTENN IAL CELEBRATION

erected a Mil estone mark ing th e close of your SecondCentury wh ich those who a hundred years hence sha l lmeet to celebrate you r Th i rd Centu ry, wi l l regard not

on ly as un ique but as pr i ce l ess .” (Great applause .)

Se lect ion by ma le chorus , Comrades in A rms .T h i rty vo ices under d i rection of Mr . F . S . B i rchard.

THE CHAIRMAN . At the so l i c itat ion of the comm ittee we have been enabled to secure for th is occas iona poem wr itten by Mrs . J . G . A . Carter , wh ich wi l lnow be read by M r . Roscoe A . Carter .

”

N EEDHAM ’


T o the hal ls of your fathers, with g ladness come !T o the land of first love, you r Ch i ldhood

’s home !

W i th pr ide of possession ou r town boasts the dayWhen the red men dwel t where she now holds sway ;When the r ipp l ing Char les, a l l i ts w ind ing lengthBore h is l igh t canoe, fe l t his oar

’s sw i ft strength ;She poin ts to the sea l wh ich her documents bearWith its rude I nd ian W igwam p ictured there,And grave old Nehoiden , r ich owner of land ,T o h is wh i te ne ighbors g i ving the we lcom ing handAnd to them transferr ing, for pit tance of payT hese acres we ho ld as ou r townsh ip today .

Our town , fa ir heritage from them descended ,With beauty and thr i f t in fu l l measure b lended ;For beauty, the forests, the r i ver , the lakes ;(What p icture more love ly than Rosemary makes ?)W i th sweetest of a i r, i ts hea l th fu lness shedd ing,W i th pu res t of water , in boun ty o

’er spread ing,W i th churches and schools , up l i ft ing the landT oward cu l ture the h ighest , to b less and expand ,W i th factories humm ing, that bring her renown ,Seats of L abor ’s true emp i re, from base to crown .

What makes a town ’s g lory ? We look forward to seeWhen we l i v ing have passed , what j udgment sha l l be ;What then the true verd ict of those who have wrough tFor Needham ’

s advance i n cu l ture and though t ?Men w i l l tu rn back to each separate nameT hat has added its share to good or bad fame,And where w i l l praise fa l l ? On h im who has knownBut one narrow out look for country or town ?

1 58]

BICENT ENNIAL PO EM

‘Vho has se rv i le ly bowed to sp i ri t o f greed.

I gno ring the he ights where the sou l m igh t feed ?S tumb l ing and marr ing the li fe he shou ld makeA pu re sh in ing l igh t for pos ter i ty

' s sake ?

Nay . ra ther on h im who in bo th age and you thll ere planted the standard o f righ t and o f tru th ;Ilcrc la id the founda t ion o f true bro therhood ,

T augh t how to advance the triumph o f good ;T rue townsmen unsu l l ied by greed or by pe l f.‘V i th shou lder to wheel . regard less o f sel f.T rue fa ther o f c i t i zens g i rded w i th power ,Equ i pped for the need o f the day and the hour .

Rea l town - l over he. who works for h is town ,

Seek ing on ly reward in her h ighes t renown ;He g i ves h i s bes t labo r o f hand . hea rt and head .

T o make a st ra igh t path where h is fel lows may tread ;Hold ing lofty concep t ion s for one and the wholeIle fear less ly leads the su re way to the goa l ,And an idea l town sha l l gi ve h im acc la imCoun t ing h im the t rue townsman in deed and in name .

Ou r town has a debt . owed to those who are gone.T o the l i v ing as we l l . and men yet unbo rn ;A debt to the past . for her heroes o f years .When Needham w rote h is tory w i th b l ood and w i th tea rs ;T o the p resen t and futu re . for a l l who need a id .

O f the s t rong to the weak . the brother a fra id ;A debt o f the w inner to h im who has los t.A debt o f the brave to the sou l tempes t - to ssed ;A debt o f the pu re to h im who knows shame.A debt of t he rich to the poo r

' s honest c la im ;T he one debt tha t R igh t owes always to Wrong.

NEEDHAM ’


Uncancel led through l i fe, be it never so long ;T he great human debt , bequeathed th rough all tim e,T he paymen t of which is a t h ing sub lime,For it must be paid in the coin of pure love,T he currency honored wherever men roveSo paid , our good town shal l her true glory find ,And stand , a brigh t beacon , to b less mank ind .

THE CHA IRMAN Needham is to be cons ideredvery fortunate i n havm g as one of i ts c it izens a manwho has taken a great dea l of i nterest and del ight i naccumu lat ing var i ous th ings concern ing the town h istory that M r . Adams has spoken about , and so I havethe pleasure to i n t roduce ,— if an introduct ion i s necessary ,—our fe l l ow - townsman , George K . C larke , E sq . ,

who has wr i tten a sketch for th is occas i on .

N E EDHAM’

s BICENT ENNIAL CELEBRATION

the except ion of a few fami l ies whose predecessors camefrom Scotland , were pract ica l ly a l l of E ng l i sh stock ,and most of them were born in Needham and had passedthei r l i ves here . What races an d what form of popu largovernment wi l l p reva i l i n th e year 20 1 1 we cannottel l , but we may be su re of th is , —that then they wi l lnob ly celebrate , and that what we have done and sa i dth i s week w i l l after a s l umber of a hundred years aga i nbe of i nterest to l i v ing men .

Ou r town is a un it i n a conste l lat ion of towns andc it i es and m ighty states , and it i s ol der than the Federa lgovernment i tse l f . Its peop le have been among thebu i l ders of th is great Repub l i c, and its sons have shedthe ir b lood in many wars .

In the seventy years of contest between GreatBr i ta i n and France for supremacy on th i s cont inent ,men who l i ved on th i s so i l , a l th ough thei r homes werefar from the scenes of confl i ct , shared with the v i ctor ies and defeats of the B r i t i sh genera l s , some of whomwere i l l adapted to commands in the wi lderness . I t i strue that there were bu t few officers among our men ,but the so l d iers su ffered much in those northern cam

paigns, and found there the i r tra i n i ng school for thewar of the Amer i can Revol ut ion .

T he story of the later wars i s long , and fi l l s manypages i n our h istory . The sol d iers of the Amer icanRevol ut ion and of the great C i v i l War d i d cred it to th i stown , and their deeds wi l l be commemorated as l ongas patr iot ism appea l s to men .

I t i s an i nterest ing fact that no pr i soners of warhave been b i l leted , or p laced in Needham for one hundred and fifty years . T he reason why no pr i sonerswere sent here dur i ng the War of the Revol u t ion i snot clear, but perhaps because there were but fewparol ed officers in Massachusetts , and the pr i vates werenot sent to the sma l l er towns .

EXERCISES IN TOWN IIA L L—{ Z EO RO E K . CL AR KE

I fee l that I have a remo te assoc i a t ion w i th theB a t t le o f Lex i ngton , for i n my ch i l d hood I was o f tentaken to ca l l u po n a ve ry a nc ien t b l ind lady . M i ssAgnes A u s t i n . who was bo rn i n (

'

liarlestown a nd l i vedthe re for many yea rs , and who de l igh ted to t e l l he rv is i tors tha t she saw t h e B r i ti sh t roops u nde r Ea rlPe rcy a n d L ieu tena n t - Co lone l Sm i th on the i r re tu rna t the c l ose o f t h e memo rab le n in eteen th of Apr i l . 1 7 7 5 .

A con s ide rab le n um be r o f t he so ld ie rs had t h rown awayt he i r red coa t s . and m uch o f the i r eq u i pmen t . The

fi rs t legacy tha t I eve r rece i ved was u nde r t he wi l l o fth is vene rab le l ady , who was a d i s tan t con n ect i on of

my fam i ly .

T h e a nna l s o f Needham a lso record honora b l each ievemen ts i n peace , o f wh ich we may j us t ly be proud .

In the yea rs o f pove rty fo l l ow i n g t h e \Va r of t h e Revolution our town began to ma in ta i n i t s school s fromth i r ty to th i r ty - s i x weeks each yea r , and con t in uedth i s cus tom , a l though un t i l w i th i n for ty yea rs of t hepresen t day many prospe rous town s in th i s Commonwea l th prov ided for t he i r ch i ld ren on ly two terms of

twe l ve weeks each . the w in ter and the summe r term .

Ou r c i t i zens h ave n eve r re fused to tax themse l ves i nt he cause of educa t ion . and h ave g i ven the sch oo l sprom in ence an d e ffi c iency for many yea rs . It shou l dno t be fo rgotten that for s i x yea rs Co l legewas one o f our ins t i tu t i on s . and t h e s to ry of i ts found in g .an d o f its rap id growt h i s a pa r t of our h is to ry . T osome he re p resen t t he t ime seems not so fa r away whenwe wen t to the town - fa rm to a tt end the mee t i n gs o fthe t own . a nd lo vo t at S tate and Fede ra l e lect i on s .T h en our c i ti zen s came f rom t he v i l l a ges o fand (i rantv ille. a nd t h e Lowe r Fa l ls . a nd t hey wereno t me re ly f r iends a nd ne igh bo rs , b u t we re Needhammen . Those w ho l i ve i n the T own o f taker ide i n i ts prospe r i ty . a nd i ts beau ti fu l homes , bu t ourhistory is the i r h i s tory . a nd wi l l ever rema in so .

63

NEEDHAM’S BICENT ENNIAL CELEBRAT ION

Dur i ng the first one hundred and fif ty years Needham had interest ing and var ied in dus t r i es , —faggots ,paper , g l ue , hats , shoes , s i lk , cotton and woolen goods ,h inges , doors , b l i nds , mach i nery , iron imp lemen ts , andpa ints , with the usua l complement of sawm i l l s , gr i stm i l l s and cider - mi l l s , but of them a l l on ly the papermi l l s at the Lower Fa l l s gave con t i n uous emp loymentto any cons iderab le number of persons . F i f ty yearsago the manufacture of kn it - goods began to be ofconsequence , and today is by far our largest i ndustry ,and the product of our factor i es i s w idely and favorab lyknown .

A century ago the commun i ty cons isted ch ieflyof farmers , an d as late as 1 848 th i s was an agr i cu ltura ltown , a l though West Needham had been somewhatchanged by the bu i l d ing of the B oston an d WorcesterRa i l road . Even in those days Needham was esteemeda hea l thy town , and inva l i ds were sent here by notedphys ic ians . To - day Needham is one of the suburbsof B oston , the bus iness i nteres ts of many of i ts peop leare largely there , and agr i cu lture as a ca l l ing i s of thepast . The reputat ion as a hea l th resort, wh ich our

town enjoyed s ixty years s i nce , not on ly has not beend im in i shed by the presence of a comparat i vely large ,and cons tan t ly growing popu lat ion , but has been increased by its fine town water , and its freedom fromep idem ic d iseases . T he l igh t and dry soi l may not

have been an unm ixed b less i ng to the farmers of theol den t ime , but it i s a sou rce of hea l th and comf ort tothe peop le of today .

Needham has been the res i dence of few men of

nat iona l importance, bu t i t has been the b irth - place ,or ancestra l h ome , of many whose names are knownand honored beyond the bounds of th is Commonwea l th ,as wel l as w i th in i ts borders . Of those now l i ving thereare severa l whose l i fe - work has been of benefit to thous

N EEDHAM’

s BICENTENNIAL CELEB RAT ION

of the presen t town the M cIntosh T avern was perhapthe mos t prom inen t , and un t i l Mr . Revere bu i l t Nehoisden Ha l l , s ix ty - seven years ago , i ts large room was thep lace for pub l ic mee t ings , soc ia l gather ings , and dances .Anecdotesrhave come down to us of good times in th i sold tavern , an d of am u s i ng occu rrences there . Theb u i l d ing was burned after i t had ceased to be a pub l i chouse .

I t i s d ifficu lt to tel l who was the p ioneer amongthe firs t se tt lers of Needham , but i t was probab lye i ther a Mi l l s or a Dewing . I t i s t rue that the F i sherfami ly had owned land in what i s now Needham asear ly as 1 65 0, but apparent ly they d id not l i ve hereun t i l much later . Capta in John Fisher was appointedi n 1 7 03 by Governor D ud ley to l ook af ter the Nat iekI nd ian s , wh ich he found no easy task , and at thatt ime h i s home was on the nor th s i de of the Char l esR i ver . Capta i n F i sher had been a sol d ier i n KingPh i l ip ’s War, an d was the capta in of the firs t companyof mi l i t ia formed i n the T own ofNeedham . L i eutenan tAndrew Dewi ng was in comman d of the garr i son - housenear the Char les R i ver , i n t he R i dge H i l l sect ion ,dur ing K i ng Ph i l ip ’s War , two h u ndred and th irty - fi ve

years ago , and may have had some of h is fami ly withh im . T he for ty pe t itioners for the incorporat ion of

of Needham represen ted twen ty - one d ist inc t fami l ies ,but of the twen ty - one on ly A l den , Dewing , Fu l ler,K i ngsbu ry and M i l l s , and perhaps F i sher , have descendants of the same surname l iv ing i n Needham in1 91 1 , and of these the anc ien t Fu l l ers are reduced innumber to one young lady . T he T own of Wel les leypossesses some of t he Fu l lers , and a l so the Wares , andposs ib ly migh t add one or two o ther names to the l i s t .T he Woodcocks and Hun ttings have d isappeared wi th inthe recol lection of many here presen t , and for severa lyears there were no Dewings in Needham .

EXERCISES IN TOWN IIALIF ' OEOROB K . CLAR KE

The older Needham is pass i ng away . the popu l oussubu rb , pe rhaps des t ined to preserve i t s iden t i ty , bu tcerta i n to be a pa rt of a me t ropo l i s . i s a l ready v is ib leto prophet ic eyes . May the t h ree hu nd red th ann iver

sa ry be ce leb ra ted by a people as loya l to Needhamas those who have done so we l l the i r pa rt in th is yof G race n i n eteen hund red and e leven . even thoughfar grea te r changes come than have ye t been known .or d reamed of .

”

T he c los ing number of the program was the singing ofa selec t ion by the cho rus. T en t ing T on igh t ."

T U E SD A Y . S E PTEM B E R 1 9

TH E PA RA D E

One of the most in teres t i ng featu res of the ce lebra t i on . and th e one th i ng to w h ich the mu l t i tude hadlooked forward with the greates t expec ta t i on w a s theC i v i c and Trades

'

Pa rade , wh ich took place i n the forenoon of the 1 9th.

The formation of the parade was as fo l l ows :

M iss Grace E lwe l l . A l ice E lwe l l and Mary De l v in . moun ted .

the las t on a co l t from the stab les o f E . G . Pond wh ichwas b roken by the young woman he rse l f

P la toon of Pol ice

Needham Mi l i ta ry Band

E . G . Pond . Ch ief Marsha l

E . Wesson Adams and M r . S ing leton , A ids

Sons of Vete rans . and the fol low ing town officers . guests andp rom inen t c i t izens occup ied theca rr iages in the pa rade :

\V illiam G . Mose leyHen ry T . Ch i ldsW i l l iam Probe rtA ust in Pot terEdgar H . BowersGeo rge A . llosley . Sen ior V ice Commander. Departmen t of Massachuset ts . G .A .R .

Cha r les A . Wood.Commander Post 63 of Natick

[ 1 7 3

NEEDHAM S BICENTENN IAL CELEB RAT ION

Edw in A . T ay lor, Commander of Ga len Orr Post ,1 8 1 , of Needham

John A . T i l tonFred Orr of Me lroseFred K ingsbury o f We l les leyMembers of Post 63, Nat ickMembers of Post 62, NewtonMembers of Post 1 2 1 , Hyde Park

F loa t—Town Sea l , wh ich was one of the great featu res of theparade, represented by John F . and Sumner B . M i l lsand George Lyman K ingsbury . T he two M i l lsbrothers were dressed in an accu rate reproduct ionof the ear ly woodsmen , and Mr . K ingsbu ry took thepart of the I nd ian “

Nehoiden T he backgroundwas a m in iatu re of the fam i l iar scene on the corporatesea l . I t was part icu lar ly fit t ing tha t the or ig ina ltransfer of the land to the ear ly set t lers shou ld beexpressed in tab leaux two hundred years later bymembers of two of the o ldes t and most prom inen tfam i l ies of the town

M iss N ina Aker, w ith a Shet land pony team

Needham F i re Department

Nat ick F i re Departmen t

We l les ley F i re Depar tmen t

Dedham F i re Departmen t

Needham Water Works Departmen t

F loat—H ighway Department, w i th steam dr i l l pu l led by thesteam ro l ler—represent ing rock dr i l l ing 1 7 1 1— 1 91 1 .

A t one end of the floa t three men were industr ious lydr i l l ing a sma l l rock, two were str ik ing w ith s ledgeson a dr i l l he ld by the th i rd ; wh i le a t the o ther end amodern steam rock dr i l l was stead i ly dr i l l ing th rougha large bou lder by means of steam suppl ied by atwe l ve - ton road ro l ler wh ich a t the same t ime furnished the mot i ve power for the whole

NEEDHAM ’

S BICENT ENNIAL CELEBRAT ION

Sam uel J . Wi lson and h is three l i t t le ch i ldrenGeorge R . Wi lsonRuth A . W i lsonRobert B . W i lson

F loat—George E . Wye Company, Knit Goods . T his exb ibit cons isted of two four - horse floats, the first dep icting a Shaker colony scene composed of five younglad ies and the overseer, convey ing the idea of theor ig in of the so—cal led Shaker sweater . T h is floatbore the t i t le “

Ye Kn i tt ing of the im personators be ing costumed after the old Shaker sty le . T heother float bore the t i t le “ Kn i tt ing of 1 91 1 , i t be ingin tended to convey the idea of the modern kn i t t ingestab lishmen t , —d isp laying the modern sweater kn i tting mach ine and power sew ing tab le, together w i ththe modern and common oflice app liances of the te lephone and typewriter . Both of these floats wereenclosed and ornamented wi th co lored tr imm ings .On the top o f each float was the en larged trademarkof the Company, the first being the letter Y w i th i tsaccompany ing design and the second the Great Danedog ’s head with its accompanying letter ing, and bothbore the fol lowing inscrip t ion :

Est . 1 888 Inc. 1 905

GEORGE E . WYE COMPANYP leasan t S treet and Dedham Ave .

Manu facturers of theGREA T DANE SWEA T ER

BATHING SUI T S AND JERSEYS

F loat—W i l l iam Bourne Son P iano Company , h igh ly decorated , with a piano p layer attachmen t in fu l l operat ionduring the en t i re parade

F l oat—Edward E . Dai ley, Paper Box Manu facturer, decorated w i th red , wh i te and b lue bunt ing, drawn byfour b lack horses . Suspended from the sadd le ofeach was a suggest ion of the lapse of two hundred


E . G. Pond , exhib i t from Noon H i l l—deer, fawn , eagle, acoon and an owl, guarded by a fine terrier

BUSINESS HOUSESGrocers

Adams B rothers, five h igh ly decorated teams

T . J . Crossman ’s exhibit with Mr . Crossman lead ing, onhorseback . T hen five wagons decorated with some ofh is numerous artic les of merchand ise . Followingcame a wagon adver tising the tea and coffee departmen t and driven by Mr . C . M . Donahue, a c lerkwho had been in his emp loy four teen years . Secondcame a wagon advertis ing paints, oils and varnishesdriven by Mr . J . F . Durb in , a lso a c lerk for four teenyears . T h ird was one of the finest and most un iqueof a l l the teams represented , the cracker team decorated by the Sunshine B iscuit Co. and advert isingtheir goods . T his was driven by Mr . H . T . Sm i th .

T he fourth was trimmed with hunting and decoratedwith general groceries advertising those on sa le at“ C rossman ’

5 Corner ,” driven by Mr . C . L . Crossman ,

father of the propr ietor . T he fifth was a lso decoratedwith flags and advertised genera l groceries, drivenby Mr . A . B . Crossman , son of Mr . T . J . Crossman .

T he horses were all decorated with p lumes andpennants, and al together wi th the wagons made afine appearance

J . J . Whetton , represented by three sing le grocery de liverywagons , decorated , and driven by emp loyees . Noticesca l led at tention to two good look ing serv iceab le horsesthat had been in the service for twenty - three years ,B i l l and Be l l , twenty - nin e and th ir ty years of age .

T wo doub le coal wagons, one loaded with a new burningfuel ca lled Briquetts—H igh land Coa l Company . Onedecorated float rep resenting the Cunard Steamsh ipCompany of wh ich Mr . J . H . Whetton is agen t ,manned by persons in un i form of the Steamship Company and carrying the Cunard House flag

THE PARADE

Sam ue l Sm ith , Grocer ies and Prov is ions , one deco ra tedwagon dr i ven by T homas Gum bel

I’roviaiorw

T homas Sutton , two new ly pa inted wagons deco rated w i ththe nat ional colors , hunting and plumes . the firs tca l led a butcher cart . rep r e

sen t ing an old - fash ionedway o f supply ing p ro v is ions in the out - ly ing d is tricts ,d rawn by a brown horse , Major , who had been in theserv ice for e igh teen years. and d r i ven by James E .

T isda le the past e igh t years ; the second . an orderwagon d r i ven by Robert ll. Kaym es for ten yea rs .represent ing the p resent method o f order and de l i veryin the more th ick ly p opu lated port ions of the town

C . W . Woodbu ry , a wagon decora ted w i th hunting and ad isplay o f vegetab les

O l i ver C r isp . one decorated de l i very wagon d r i ven by F .

Dona ld WebbDry Goods

E . Pushing. a sma l l two - wheeled cart drawn by a Shetland pony o f d im inut i ve p roport ions . A tower decorated w i th hunting and flags and su rmounted by asma l l rubber boo t was bu i l t over the cart , wh ich i tselfwas partia l ly covered w i th s ign s advert is ing h is goods .In the cent re of the tower a large s ign read ing

"A lways therew i th theGoods"

was shown , read ing a l ike on bo th s ides . Master Ray(iavagan was the d r iver

and fl'

ood

Pioneer (‘

oa l Company . Joseph W i l let t , Propr ietor. was

represented by a float d rawn by a pa i r o f we l l - matchedb lack horses . ( ) n the float were n ine snow - wh i te coa lhods fi l led w i th “ spark l ing b lack d iamonds a l socoal shove ls pa inted b lue and wh i te ; large s ignslette red "Estab l ished 187 2

" and “

Prompt De l i very"

NEEDHAM ,S BICENTENNIAL CELEBRATION

T he who le surmoun ted by the firm trademark anddraped w ith the nat iona l colors . T he driver wore am iner ’s cap surmounted by the regu lar m ine lamp

Poore Chadwick , one doub le team loaded w i th coa l , dr i venby John Murray

Farm and Produce

Pine Va l ley Farm , showing the o ld set t ler who plodded a longw i th h is ox—team load of produce

Webb Farm—Mi lk

H i l lside Farm— F loat decorated with bunt ing, flags andye l low corn , disp laying the utensi ls used in the careof the m i lk from the stab le to the consumer . A we l lgroomed cow w i th its ca l f a lso added to th is very interesting feature . T he second float contained them i lkers in White coats and caps . T wo m i lk wagonscovered with bunting and flags finished the d isp layfrom Needham ’s leadi ng dairy

Jerry Bond—Vegetab les, Garden T ruck

F . H . Whipp le—Distributor fruit and vegetab les

D . S imon—Cat t le

S . Rosenb lat t

Dav id Cohen— Fowl

Frank Marsilli—Vegetab les

John H . F i tzgera ld , Vi llage B lacksm i th , decorated float witha forge in fu l l operat ion and a pony be ing shod . O ldestestab l ished business under the same managem ent , 1 869

Ice

Needham Ice Company, Frank A . M cIntosh, Manager

Un ion Ice Company , T homas K ilm ain , Propr ietor

1 80]

NEEDHAM ’


Florists

P . E . R ichwagen . A wagon loaded w i th flowers and fol iagep lants . Wagon decorated w i th bunt ing, horse w i thflags, driven by his son , P . Burnhardt R ichwagen . A

second wagon , a l ight de l i very or democrat , decoratedw i th flowers in body of wagon , outs ide wi th bunt i ng ,horse with flags, dr iven by h is son , Ear l W . Richwagen

Denys Z irngiebelUpholsterer

Wenda l l Hasenfus— decorated float w i th three emp loyeesshow ing the process of upho lster ing furn i ture

F loat— Cold Spr ing Boat House, wh ich cons isted of a twohorse float carry ing a modern canvas canoe r ich lypa inted and decorated . T he canoe was comp lete lyfurn ished w i th carpet , cush ions, back rests and padd les , and had a United S tates flag at the stem andUn ion Jack w i th Canad ian coat of arms in the bow .

T he decorated canopy was supported by oars andpadd les

Sons of T emperance, L eonard Dawson dressed as Nehoidenfor whom the Lodge is named , carry i ng the i ron insign ia of the Order su rmounted by the rega l ia wornby the F i rst Worthy Patr iarch of the loca l d i v is ion ,W i l l iam N . Ayers, fi fty - four years ago

Dedham Wet Wash

Hathaway’s Bakery of Wa l tham ,

— a concern that has sentteams to Needham for th irty - seven con tinuous years .One of the two teams was dr i ven by L . F . K im ba l l ,one of the first dr i vers ; the second by the presentdr i ver , W . R . Wes t

VValtham Laundry , George T w igg , loca l agen t

Underwood Company of Nat ick , furn i ture and householdutens i ls

John M cDowelldressed as a co lon ia l , on a motor cyc le

Howard A . and M rs. C rossman , E . Ross , Mrs . Rossand I rv ing J r.. in auto w i thW is te ria , rep resen t ing Japanese

George E . Wragg and fam i ly in deco rated auto

T H E V E T ERAN S

TH E V E T ERAN S

The B icen tenn ia l Comm i ttee made thoughtfu lprov i s ion for the l oca l ve te ran s of t h e C i v i l Wa r .

A la rge barge w i th fou r ho rse s was fu rn ished byt he Comm i t tee for the i r t ra n spo rta t i on i n the grea tParade . T he barge was pro fu se ly deco ra ted by t heveterans w i th ou r nat ion a l co l ors i n red , wh i t e andb l ue bun t i ng , wh ich w i t h t h e occupan ts of the ba rgeadded great ly to the many i n teres t ing fea t u res of theprocess ion , l a rge ly because of th is an n i ve rsa ry comingi n the fi f t ieth ann i ve rsa ry yea r of tha t C iv i l Wa r .

One of the mos t pleas in g in ciden ts on the l as t dayof N eedham

’

s ce l ebra t ion of its B icen tenn ia l ann iversa ry was the l arge ga ther ing of Ve te rans of the C i v i lWar , from the su rrou nd ing towns , at the in v itat ionof our l oca l G rand A rmy Pos t . T hese ex - so l d ie rswere loya l represen tat i ves of s i x d i ffe ren t town s , andmoreover , they served in reg imen ts , ba t ter ies . ete. ,

represent ing var i ous states , from Ma in e to I l l i no i s .The Post though t fu l ly prov ided a substan t ia l

grandstand , upon wh ich the o ld sol die rs and t he l ad iesaccompany i ng them comfor tably sat a nd v i ewed t heparade , as i t passed be fore them . They en j oyed themany humorous t h ings wh ich occu rred and ob serv edw i th in te res t the changes i n t he mechan ical a rt s as

shown by t he p ictu resque d i splay of models . o f thei ndus t r ies now ca rr i ed on in the town , compared wi t hthe days of fif ty and s ix ty years ago .

[ 187


Nat i ck and Hyde Park , both large manufactur ingtown s , were wel l represented , the former by upwards offor ty ve teran s . New ton , a c i ty of great i nd iv i dua lwea l th , Dover an d M edfi eld no ted for their broadfarms , and Dedham , our Coun ty seat , an d mother ofNeedham , were here by represen tat i on , to wi t ness an dexpress their su rpr ise and del igh t at the scenes aboutthe town .

Af ter the parade at 1 2 o ’c lock , a l uncheon wasprov i ded for our vis itors i n K i ngsbu ry ha l l , by the Postand the Women

’

s Re l ief Corps , at wh ich over a hundredwere seated . Invocation was sa i d by the Rev . Chas .E . Saw te l le , then the lad ies of the Re l ief Corps chargedupon us wi t h great p i tchers of coffee ready , sugared andcreamed . T he clat ter of kn ives , forks , d ishes an dspoons cou l d not d rown the pra i se, jokes , s tor ies an dlaughs that served as swee t sauce to the food so rap id lyd isappear i ng .

When hu nger and th i rst were assuaged , Commander Edwin A . T aylor i n t roduced V ice CommanderHos ley , whose e loquent address was great ly app lauded .

Our board of se lectmen , Messrs . Hen ry T . Ch i l ds ,Wi l l iam A . Probert an d Aus t i n Po tter honored theoccas ion by the i r presen ce and act i ve ly ass i s ted inenterta i n ing our gues t s f rom out of town . T he cha irman of the board , Mr . Ch i l ds , spoke feel ing ly of therespec t an d con s i derat i on he l d by the town speop le i nt he past and presen t for t he ve teran s of the Civ i l War .

T he Rev . Edward Marsh fol lowed with appropr iatea l l us ions to t he day and the serv ices of those presen ti n he lp ing fif ty years ago to br ing abou t t hese presentcond it i on s . Represen tat ives f rom the d i fferen t town swere ca l l ed upon , and i t can be t ru thfu l ly sa i d thatthey acqu i t ted themse l ves sat i sfactor i ly as ev i dencedby the sm i les and app lause they rece i ved .

A delegation from each of the Dorchester and

T H F I R E D E PA R T M EN T

NEEDHAM S BICENTENN IA L CELEBRATION

HAND ENGINE, N IAGARA 1

B ui l t in 1 846 . Purchased from the T own Of H ingham,

Mass . , in 1 884 . Out Of commission in 1 890 upon introduction of Water Service

1941

COMB INATION CO . l—CENTRAL STATION

Cap ta in Rodney S . AdamsGeorge Hol tChar les WoodburyFrank GaughanFred CooksonPercy MoultonFrank L ane

COMBINATION CO. 2—NEEDHAM HEIGHTS

Cap tain John W . CrispL ieutenant T . R . Quin lan

Frank ScottonGeorge KennedyHarry Wa lkerJames P idgeonSamue l SmithWil l iam Sm i thWal lace Rae

HOOK ' SZ LADDER T RUCK CO . l—CENTRAL STATION

Cap ta in Dana L . SouthworthL ieutenan t John T . Farrand

Howard F lewellynWende l l H . HasenfusWilliam H . S laneyWilliam B rownDaniel Su l livanWi lliam H . S laney, Jr .Wi lliam C lewsHerbert Slaney

F IR E DEPARTMENT PARA DE

HOSE Co . l R IV ER

Cap ta in L indsay M inn isL ieu tenan t Harry Forsy the

Dan ie l Ma thewsonJoseph WagstaffJohn D . CookAdolph BurrmC har les DayHoward Shaw

HOSE CO . 3—NEEDHAM UPPER FALLS

Cap ta in James F . Daley ,Corey S tataJohn RaeHarry SheppersonEdward Da ley

HOSE CO . 4—N E EDB AM DAL E

Cap ta in Hen ry D . B l ackman

V i sxT IN O COMPANI ES

Comb ina t i on Hook and Ladder CO . 1 , ‘Vellesley , ten menHose CO . 1 , Dedham , ten menHook and Ladder CO . 1 , Na t ick , ten men

Upon d ism issa l Of the parade the depa rtm en t andgues ts assem b led at the Cen t ra l S ta t i on , where a banque t w as served .

A t P M . a genera l a l a rm was sou nded by thech ie f f rom B ox 98

,l oca t ed a t the Cen t ra l Stat i on ,

ca l l ing t h e en t i re departmen t to Needham Squ are .

By orde r o f the ch ie f , l adde rs we re p l aced uponth e T own Ha l l a nd the Bou rn e B u i l d in g , whe re l i n esof hose we re placed by Comb ination CO . 1 and Com


b inat i on CO . 2 . Upon their arriva l , lines of hose werep laced upon the same bu i ldi ngs by Hose CO . 3 andHose CO . 4.

Upon comp let ion of the exhi b it ion the department was d ism issed and sent to quarters .

196]

NEEDHAM’S BICENTENNIAL CELEBRAT ION

those i n offi cia l pos it i ons throughout th i s commun ityg i ve them wisdom an d u nders tand ing , g i ve them powerto execu te . We p ray T hee that thesp i r i t Of true pat r i oti sm may ab ide i n the hearts of a l l these ou r ci t izens .And , ou r Father , may no t on ly th i s commun i ty butmay a l l commu n i t i es in th i s Old Bay State , the statethat has been so much in the h i story Of our lan d , beb lessed Of T hee, and may the cand le Of l iberty burnbr igh t ly that generat i on s to come may be blessed evenas we have been b lessed . SO accept our thanks for th i sprov is ion for our phys i ca l needs , and hel p us to seethat every good an d every perfec t g i f t come th downf rom above . Amen .

Mus ic was fu rn i shed by the Puritan Orchestra

dur i ng the banquet .

THE CHAIRMAN . The Governor has come to ustoday af ter a l ong j ou rn ey f rom another part Of thes tate and des i res to say a few words to u s at th is t imeas he des i res to depar t very shor t ly ; so I have the honorto presen t to you H i s E xcel lency the Governor .

”

REMARKS OF GOVERNOR FOSS

Mr . Ch a i rman , lad ies and gen t l emen : I am g ladto be here w i t h you today jus t to b r ing a word Of greeting . I have come over f rom Uxbr idge th i s af ternoonwhere I have been atten d ing one Of the numerouscounty fai rs . You kn ow that Uxbr idge i s one Of thosede l ightfu l l itt l e towns Of abou t i nhab i tan ts overi n the B lackston e va l l ey good to see , on e of those industrial cen ters s tudded w i t h mi l l s and severa l largei ndus t r ies , and they have h ad a wonderfu l cou nty fai r,i t be ing a sect ion Of the s tate where oxen are sti l l in

THB "A NOUEST—GOV ERNOR P0 88

evidence , a l though the automobi le i s com ing i n fas tas you know .

Now , you have had a wonderfu l ce lebrat i on he retoday I am to l d , and I have a l so been a t tend ing somece leb ra t i ons e l sewhe re . The re was the one hund redand fif t ie th a nn ive rsary in Wa reham the other daywh ich I had the pleasu re of at tend ing . A lso I wentup a nd a t tended the hund red and fi ft ie th ann iversa ryof the town o f Ru t l and in Ve rmon t .

Bu t th is i s t he two hund red th an n i ve rsary here i nNeedham . and I wan t to commend the c i v ic sp i r i t ofth is commun i ty , th is l ove ly and beau t i fu l town of you rs ,and you r ci t izen s i n coming ou t and mak i ng such a d isp lay an d i n fl ou r i sh in g sO ma ny fl ags and deco ra t i on s ;and then I understand t he parade h as done you muchcred i t .And t he though t wh ich is i n my m ind today is th i s ,

tha t th i s commun i ty is so near the grea t me t ropo l i sof B os ton , so c lose ly connec ted by t ies of bus iness i n te rest ia eve ry way ,

—m y though t is tha t of coope ra t ion .

Mos t of you bus in ess men who l i ve here i n th i s towna re do ing bu s iness i n Boston , you r bus iness i s l oca t edthe re , and when we a re th ink in g and ta lki ng abo u tgreater Bos ton , and Of the grea ter un i ty becau se of

wha t the tendency of the times i s today , we sha ll haveth is greater Boston when we sha l l br i ng toge the r thesecommun i t ies l ocated a round th is great i ndustr ia l andcomme rc i a l center . Then we sha l l have made a grea tc i ty Of Bos ton ; no t a c i ty of people as i t is today ,

bu t a c i ty o f a m i l l ion and a ha l f tak ing in an a rea of tenor fi f t een m i l es a round t he S ta t e House ; and t h enBos ton w i l l no t ra n k as the twen t ieth c i ty in the wor l d ,

bu t a s abou t the ten t h ci ty in t he worl d .

are en t i t led to tha t rank , we a re fas t becom in g acomme rc i a l cen t e r. and I cou ld tel l you a bou t t he Legi slature on Beacon Hill and the appropr iation of

000 for the improvement of our harbor . You are a l li n terested i n the propos it ion , —a l l of us l i v ing near theharbor where ou r interes ts are so strong . It i s a movement wh ich means so much to th i s state , especia l l yto th i s sect i on of the coun t ry .

I am not going to deta i n you long, as you have agreat array of ta l en t on the p latform , and when thed in ner i s over you wi l l want to hear f rom them . TheL ieutenan t - Governor i s here and can tel l you W hat hasbeen going on on B eacon H i l l th i s last year, what wehave been doing an d what the resu lt i s to be .

I wan t s imply to say in clos ing that I thank youvery much indeed for the warm gree t ing g i ven me today ,and how much p leasu re i t i s for me to be with you andsay these few words an d to ex ten d to you the greet ingsof the Commonwea l th . I thank you very much

[applause] .Af ter the remarks Of the Governor, an d when H i s

Excel len cy had depar ted , the banquet ing was resumed ,after wh ich the fol lowing addresses were made .

THE CHAIRMAN . As we are near i ng the cl oseof th is very successfu l ce lebration I am sure i t w i l lg i ve me great p leasu re to congratu late you and t h etown upon the complet ion Of t he program prov ided forth is occasion . We have had a very p leasan t t ime ;i t has been very successfu l , and now as the fina l th ingwe have me t here to enjoy th is banquet , an d we havewi th us as gues ts a number of men iden tified wi th theCommonwea l th and wi th ou r coun ty and t he neighboring towns . T hey have come here as t he guests of thetown of Needham , and I know you are g lad to havethem here as your gues ts .

T he Governor , before he left , sa i d a very p leasantword for h i s L i eu tenan t - Governor , and sa i d you wou ldhave the p leasure of hear i ng from h im , and that h e

NEEDHAM ’


You a l so supp l ied us with trees , I am tol d , andthose trees were taken from here into B oston by oxen ,so that we had oxen in those days as now at our agr icu lturalshows [ laugh ter] .

NOW , I shou ld not undertake , as much as I wou ldl i ke to do anyth ing the Governor asks me to do, to tel l

you ,as he suggested , a l l that went on upon B eacon

H i l l the past winter, for we had the longes t sess ion th eLeg i s lature ever has had in Massachusetts, and i f Iunder took to te l l you a quarter part of what they d idor l eft undoneb and that latter part wou ld be easy— forthey d idn ’

t l eave much undone apparently— it wou ldtake not on ly th i s afternoon but a great part Of tomorrow.

Two of those trees wh ich were taken i n from hereto B oston were rejected , as I understand it , an d werebrought back again and p lanted near the border - l i nebetween here and Wel les ley , and they may now beseen there growing in a flou rish i ng cond it ion .

The poet , I th ink it was Ho lmes , wasn’t it, sa i d

that ‘L itt le Of a l l we va l ue here wa i ts on the morn of

i ts hundredth year without both look ing and feel i ngqueer

,

’ and after doub le one hundred years we wou l dexpect Needham to fee l very old and very queer . I ti s a l ong t ime, lad ies and gent lemen , for th i s country ,and Needham has prospered and she has been progress ive withou t fo l lowing a l l the necessar i ly so- ca l l edprogressive doctr ines we hear about nowadays , butshe has progressed i n the true l i nes . I ts cit izens wentforth at the t ime of our Revo l ut ionary War, and theproportion of l oss at Lex ington and Concord from th i stown of Needham was greater than f rom any othertown in Massachuset ts except that of Lexington . T heywen t forth aga in at the t i me of t he C i v i l War, and theygave the ir quota of b lood and showed that Needhamwas still patr i otic.

‘I'

II E B A N Q UFTF—L IEUT I'IN ANT—O O V FTRNOR FROT II IN G IIAM

You have played you r pa r t , l ad ies and gen t lemen ,w i th Massachu set ts i n a l l the grea t even ts o f th i scountry .

T o many pe ople the histo r Of the Un i ted S ta t esSeems less a ttrac t i ve tha n tha t of

’

some fore ign coun t r iesbeca u se we haven

’

t the ru i ned cast les a nd t i t l es o f afeuda l nob i l i ty tha t a re to be fou nd across the wa te r ,but those a re sha l low people ; the h is tory O f Ame ricaf rom its very n ew ness lends a t t rac t ions . Where e l secan you fin d a coun t ry sett led a s t h i s was not for conques t . not for ga i n of tha t k ind , bu t to gam freedom . afree chu rch , a free gove rnmen t . a free speech , s t re tchi ng out its colon ies and fina l ly th row ing O ff the yoke oft he mo ther coun t ry and becom ing f ree , we ld ing to

gethe r i nto a grea t and s t rong governmen t to be castassunder for a t i me by the C i v i l Wa r , bu t com i ngtoge ther afte rwa rds s t ron ge r tha n eve r , and b ecom ingt he greatest repub l i c on the fact Of the g l obe ? [applause ]

Whe re e l se ca n you find such cha rac ters as “ash

ington and L i nco ln ; in wha t othe r coun t ry i n the wor ldcan you find so ma ny caree rs where the bare foo t boyhas r i sen by the strength o f h i s Own pe rsona l i ty to t heh ighest pos i t ion in business , profess iona l , and po li t i ca ll if e ?

L adi es and gent lemen , we have a great coun t ry ,

we have great trad i t i ons , and no s tate i n thi s Un ionhas l i ved up to those t rad i t ion s be t ter than Massachu

se tts [applause ] . We have done ou r du ty i n t ime o f

wa r ; let us see to i t tha t we do our duty likew ise i n thet i me of peace

"

[great applause ] .

T nE (‘

RM RMAN I have had occas ion to sayonce or twice du ring t he ce lebrat ion tha t Massac huset tsi s proud Of its men . I be l ieve tha t Massachuse t ts isproud Of its repres enta t i ves i n Congress . havea b l e men from M assachu setts part ic ipa ti ng in the delib

erations at Wash ington ; we have , however , oneman whohas been deemed wort h y of h igh offi c i a l recogn it i on inth a t body , a man who , when ever he addresses thebody , rece ives the very best of atten t ion ; a man whosesugges t i on s are l i s tened to with great care , and whenfo l lowed are fou nd very profi table ; and so ton ight i tg i ves me great p l easu re to presen t as our nex t speakerCongressman Weeks , ou r congressman from th i s d i strict

”

[the aud ience r ises an d g i ves th ree cheers and at iger for Congressman Weeks] .

REM ARK S OF CONGRESS M AN WEEKS

Mr . Cha irman , lad ies and gen t l emen , con s i deri ng the fact that I am not a cand idate for office , I th inkthose cheers were un usua l ly hearty [ laugh ter] .

You have been wise i n hav ing th i s ce lebrat ion ;i t i s a l ways wise for peop le to get together and comparenotes , an d tak ing an accou n t of stock to see what theyhave been doing dur i ng the last ha l f centu ry at l east .You not on ly get toge ther yourse l ves, but you br i ngback to you r com mun i ty those who have left i t for onereason and ano ther , and especia l ly those who werenatives of the town ; and some times they br i ng backto you someth ing va l uab le, an d occas iona l ly one l eavesh i s nat ive town that wh ich i s va l uab le , and I hope thatwi l l be the case here . I n any case you have been wisei n hav ing th is celebrat ion , a l though i t takes work an deffort to make it successfu l , even when there are manywi l l i ng hands .

I wi l l say to you confiden t ia l ly that I came hereto ta l k abou t a mat ter I have had on my m in d , butI see t hat th i s i s not the p lace to do it ; therefore I amgoing to change my text and d iscuss br iefly someth ingthe Governor gave us as an i nd icat ion of h i s v iew of a

THE BAN Q Um —M N C RFB SMAN WEEKS

pub lic question . I am not do ing i t because I do no tag ree w i t h t h e G overn or , beca use I do freq uen t ly agreew i th h im on ma t te rs not po l i t ica l . a nd o f cou rse I wou l dnot th ink of i n jec t ing a ny t h ing po l i t ica l he re . In th i spa rt icu la r I d isag ree w i t h h im . a nd wan t to ca l l you rat tent ion br iefly—and w i thou t g i v ing i t a ny con s ide rat ion for th i s occa s ion—why I d isagree w i th h im in h issuggest ion that th is commun i ty shou ld become a pa r tof Boston .

T h ings b ig a re not a lways v i rtuous s imp ly becau sethey are l a rge . I f they were I shou ld be one o f the mostv i rtuou s men , wh i ch I am n o t ; bu t t h i n gs a re goo d because they have va l u e w i th ou t rega rd to the i r s i ze ,and tha t b r ings up th is w ho le question o f gove rnmen t ,of the form of gove rnmen t , of the gove rnmen t we ha vehad i n New E ng l a nd for the l as t two h u nd red a nd fi ftyor th ree hund red yea rs , and th e governmen t we ha vehad to work out of our cond i t ion s as they wou l d cometo us from day to day .

Mr . B ryce , the B r i t i sh ambassador , whom I es teemas a fr iend of m i n e , has sa id in h i s commen ta ry uponour government . that the one fa i l u re the Ame r icanpeop le have made was in the i r m u n ic ipa l gove rnmen t ,but he wou ld ha ve sa id i n th e same brea th tha t theone grea t success wh ich th ey ha ve made has been madei n the i r ind iv idua l town governmen t , or the gove rnmen twe ha ve h ea rd abou t a nd kn own eve r s ince we ha vebeen on th is ea rth . The old New En g land town gove rnm en t i s the bes t gove rnmen t evo l ved by ma n , beca u sei t i s the ind iv idua l gove rnmen t w he re eve ry ind iv id ua lknows a l l the det a i l s , takes an in te res t and becomes apa rt of i t .

Bu t when a commun i ty grows to a ny exten t thepu re democ racy wh ich ex is ts i n the sma l l town s m us tnece ssa ri ly be su bst i tu t ed w i th someth i ng ak in t o i tbu t not exact ly l i ke i t . There fore we see in the la rge r

N E EDHAM’


towns some form of Repub l i can government wh ich i smade to fi t the necess it ies as they ar i se . Later on wecome to c ity government , wh ich i n my j udgment , incomparat i ve ly sma l l commun it ies , i s the poorest governm ent any commun ity can have ; the people in alarge c ity are the poorest governed peop le i n th i s country . Loca l government is the most important of allourpub l ic dut ies . We sometimes get exc ited about nat ionaland state affa irs and county affa irs , but when you stopand th ink we ra i se more for l ocalpurposes , and there aremore deta i l s i n connect ion with loca l affa i rs than a l lothers put together, you wi l l u nderstand why it shou l drece ive our first attent ion .

I happened to not ice the other day that the c ityof B oston when i t was of the s ize of the city of Newtonwhere I l i ve had a net debt of and that theexpend itures of the c ity of B oston at that t ime percap ita were on ly about one- half of what they are i nNewton today . I do not say that to reflect on Newton ,wh ich i s one of the best commun it ies i n the Commonwealth , and where I bel ieve every dol lar expended hasg i ven a dollar

’

s worth of va l ue to the inhab itants ofthat c ity , but I say it because cond it ions have changed ,th e wor l d has been mov ing , we do not l i ve the s imp lelife our fore - fathers l i ved a h undred years ago, and whenthose who antedate us by many years were i n charge ofthe conduct of affa irs . They d i d not have the mu lt itudinous matters of deta i l wh ich we have to dea l w ith ;therefore the expend itures were sma l ler, the amountof money ra i sed was very much less than now, buttoday we have , and I bel ieve we must have , all themodern improvements and conven iences wh ich go to

make up our modern l ife . Therefore i t becomes of thegreatest importance that we shou l d have in charge of

affa irs men on whom we can depend and on whose bus iness j udgment we can place the greatest rel iance .


my judgment it i s a poorer government than that wh ichex i sts in these l oca l i t i es here about you ; that we getmore for every dol lar expended than they do i n B ostons imply because the average ci t izen does not l ose h i scon nec t ion w ith expend itures and other deta i l s thatmake up mun icipa l l i fe, and when i t comes for you rbody to ma i nta i n your i nd iv idua l ity and you r mun ic i

pality as i t i s or go into the c i ty of B os ton I hope youwi l l cons ider very ser iously and gravely whether youwi l l not be doing yourse l f and descendants an injust iceif you jo i n yourself w ith a comm un ity where the government i s poorer than here simply because i t makes alarger commun ity there .

The mayor of the city of wh ich I am a res i dent i shere to speak for i t, but I want to say ju st one wordabout you r neighbors . E very man i s somewhat influenced by what h i s neighbor th i nks . I f there i s a mani n th is commun ity who ma i nta i ns h is home and establishm ent at a h igh standard it i s an inv itat ion , i n a sense,for others to go and do likewise . The same th ings ex istsin mun ic ipali t ies , and it wou l d be imposs ib le for Newton , Needham , Wel les l ey, and Dedham surroundedby the splend id mun ic ipa l it ies I have named— it wou l dbe imposs ible to be any other than first class commun it ies in wh ich to l i ve . Therefore we as neighbors takean interest in you and your l ocal mun icipa l success ,and in your ster l ing c it izensh ip , and we wish you acont i nuat ion of all the good th ings that have come to

you i n the past whether you cont i nue your present formof government or change it .

The fact i s, whether you change your governmenti s not the fina l cons iderat ion wh ich w i l l determ inewhether expen d itures are wise ly made or not, but it i sthe qua l i ty of the c it izens to determine that, and itshou l d be your first purpose to ma i nta i n the h ighestquality of c it izensh ip . Keep your peop le interested in

THE B AN Q UEH O NORESSMA N WEEK S

l oca l and governmen ta l a ffa i rs : the man in teres ted i ni n th e chu rch , in the l i b ra ry e leemosyn a ry in s t i t u t i on s ,i f the re are such , in the va r io us t h i ngs t ha t go to makeup our l i fe i n a commu n i ty l i ke t h is , is a lmos t in va r iab lya good c i t i zen , a nd I say to you t ry to keep eve ry c i t izen i n te res ted in those th in gs whet he r he be l ongs toyou r pa rty or denom i n a t i on o r you r c i ty or not. Eve ryman , wha t eve r h is occupa t i on , shou ld be pa rt of thel i fe , a pa rt of the commun i ty whe re he l ives .

I wan t to say one wo rd mo re. a nd tha t i s to expressto you m y own a pp rec ia t ion o f Needham and o f t h epeop le o f Needham . I t is n ea rly e igh t yea rs s i n ce Ihave t r ied to rep resen t you in and I wa n tto t ha nk you for ass is t in g me i n the perfo rma n ce o f

m y p ub l ic du t ies . I say th i s w i t h ou t rega rd to t h epo l i t ica l apprec ia t ion or suppor t i n t h is commu n i ty :I say i t to eve ry ma n , Democ ra t , Repub l ica n or Soc ia li s t , beca u se I h ave been a l lowed , so fa r as t h e c i ti zen sof Needham a re concern ed , to pe rform my d u t ies w i t hout i n any degree t r y ing to aff ec t my j udgmen t of whatthe prope r du t ies of a represen ta t ive i n Congress a re .

I have not been ob l iged to devo te a l l my t ime to pet tydeta i l s of no importance to the genera l publ i c or to t henat ion at l a rge .

Natu ra l ly there a re some of those th ings wh ichevery rep resen ta t ive mus t at t imes g i ve some a t tent ion to , but I have been g i ven Opportu n i ty to devo temy t ime to the la rger a ffa i rs of governmen t , a nd i fI have not done so successfu l ly it i s my own fa u l t an dnot yours . You ha ve g iven me th e oppo rt u n i ty to bea good represen ta t ive for you a n d for myse l f as a n in d iv idua l t ry ing to make c red i t for myse l f ; the re fo re t he rei s d ue you m y a pp rec ia t ion for the ma n n e r in wh ichyou have ass i s ted me in pe r fo rm i n g m v p u b l ic d u t ies .

I hope you wi l l go on as you have the la s t fi ft ee n .

twen ty , or twenty - fi veyea rs , a nd w i l l cont in ue a mode l

N E EDHAM’

S BICENTENNIA L CELEBRAT ION

mun icipa l i ty, try i ng to be the best mun icipa l ity therei s i n th is good Commonwea l th (very great applause .)

THE CHA IRMAN . A s our Congressman has wellsa i d , th i s i s not a pol i t i ca l meet ing ; at the same t imeI fee l that there are those present who wi l l be muchp leased to hear from men represent ing the Commonwea l th , and I wi l l in troduce to you Secretary of StateLangtry .

”

REMARK S OF HON . A . P . LANGTRY

M r . Toastmaster I cannot ta lk about Needham ;I l i ve a hundred m i l es from Needham , and I know nothi ng about your town excepting that it i s oneof the mostbeaut i ful of the many beauti fu l suburbs of B oston ,and I do not b lame any of you for wanting to l ive here,and I should not th ink any of you wou l d ever want tol eave here , and that none of you wou l d ever want tobe annexed to the city of B oston wh ich i s my temporaryhome . I shou ld th i nk that you wou l d rather enjoy you rown government and your own assoc iat ions . Knowingno th ing abou t the h i story of your town I cannot ta l kto you about it , but I am going to i ntrude a shortpolit icalsubject , a li tt l e poli t i ca l mora l ity, i f you please .

E very one of you has met the man who tel l s youthat poli t i cs i s a d irty game , and that a l l pol it i c iansare grafters . There i s not one of you but knowsthe man who tel l s you that, and that man never stops tothink that i n th i s g l or ious repub l i c the major i ty ru le ,and if pol it i cians are grafters it means that the maj or i tyof the people are d ishonest , and everyone of you atheart kn ows that that i s not true and that every one

loves honesty and hates d ishonesty .

Did you ever attend the B owery Theatre? I


chusetts i s . It i s a great b ig corporat ion doing a business of many m i l l i on s of dol lars a year ; the Governori s the pres ident , the leg i s lators are the board of direc

tors , and if there i s graf t there, i f there i s ineffi ci encythere , on stockhol der ’s day , on the first Tuesday inNovember , you as stockholders owe it to yourse l vesand to your state and to you r country to be at th estockhol der

’

s mee t i ng and turn the rasca l s out.

In th i s great state bu t 60 or 7 0 per cen t of thestockholders i n th i s Massach use t ts corporation voteevery year, and that i ncl udes every man who tel l s

you that pol it i cs i s a d irty game an d that pol i t i ciansare graf ters .

We have too much po l it ics i n Massachusett s .How many realize that but two states i n the Un ionhave an elect i on th i s fa l l , Massachusetts and RhodeI s land , and if the peop le of Rhode I s lan d shou l d havean amen dmen t to the cons t itut i on two years h en ceMassachusetts a l one wi l l h ol d an e lect ion . Every statei n the U n i on except Massachuse t ts wi l l e l ect its s tatet icket e ither once i n two years or once i n fou r years ,and g i ve the peop le a l i t t l e rest in between . The cam

paign i n th i s state started very short ly after the firstof January , and it has been go i ng on ever s ince , and Ipresume next year i t wi l l beg i n over aga i n pretty closeto the first of January , and so i t i s from year to year . I tseems to me t hat the peop le of Massachuset t s are ent i t l ed to a res t every o ther year f rom pol it i cs , an d itseems to me a l so that they are ent it l ed to a rest f rom al eg i s lat ive sess ion . The presen t Leg i s lature las tednear ly seven mon ths— j ust th i nk of it— near ly sevenmonths , and there are twenty - fi ve states i n the Un ionthat by cons t i tu t i ona l enactment l i m i ts the l eg i s lat i vesess ion i n their s tates to from forty to n ine ty days ,and there are on ly s i x s tates i n th i s whole country thathave annual sess ions of the Leg i s latu re .

T II E BANQ UET—HON . CHARLES E . HAT FIELD

Now , M r . C hai rman , I am a bo rn op t im is t , andI th ink the wo r ld i s growin g bet te r a l l t h e t ime ; I th i n kwe have be t te r ru le rs t oday tha n yes te rday , a nd Ith ink be t te r l aws t oday tha n eve r be fo re . I t h i n kthe sun wi l l sh ine b r igh te r tomo r row t han i t has shon etoday , but I do th in k i t i s you r d u ty and my d u ty andevery man

'

s d u ty to be a pa t r i o t ic c i t i zen , to be i n te rested in h i s town . in h is s ta t e , i n h is na t ion , a n d to doh is part to g i ve th i s cou n t ry the best governmen t in theworld .

"

[app lause ]

Tue CHA IRM A N . ln speak ing abou t t he governmen t of c i t ies , a nd espec i a l l y of sma l l c ities , I am con

fi dent the speaker d id not ha ve i n m ind any referen ceto our ne ighbor i ng c i ty of New ton , wh ich we a l l knowis a wel l governed ci ty . and we sha l l be p leased to hearh is IIonor, Mayor Hatfie ld of Newton .

"

REM ARKS OF lION . CHARLES E . HATF I ELD

Mr . Toastmaster , l ad ies and gen t l emen . I knowi t i s late and you wan t to ge t away ; I am su re you arenot anx i ous to hea r me speak any more than I amanx i ous to speak to you . I am g l ad however to comehere and to br i ng the greet ings to you of the c i ty ofNewton . Newton is proud of Needham ; we are bo undto you by many ties ; we see many of you r people inNew ton in many of ou r difi'erent orders and organ izat ions , and we have come to love those men and to beproud of them . We get water from the banks of ther i ver in Needham . Poss ib ly in Newton they mix i twi th other th i ngs , but not dur i ng th is adm i n istrat i on

[ laughter] . Away back i n the da rk ages when (‘

on

gressman Weeks was mayor of Newton they may havem ixed water with other things, but not at pres ent .

NEEDHAM '


B ut Newton is as proud of you as you are proud ofyoursel f at th i s two hundred th ann iversary , and Icou ld not help th i n king as I sat here that back of a l lthese comes the opportun i ty of what two hundredyears g i ves to these you ng men an d women of Needham .

I t i s the i nher itance brought to them by thei r forefathersby t he men who have made th i s poss ib le, by the menand the women too, for the women have done the irpart . You remember Senator Hoar when asked to

speak to the toast ‘

T he P i lgr im Mo thers ’ sa i d th i s :‘ T he P i lgr im Mothers , they en dured a l l the P i lgr imfathers endured , and a l so had to endure the Pi lgr imfathers .

’

Now, i t i s that i nher i tance, that many years of

good town governmen t brought down to these boys andg ir l s that i s going to g i ve them an opportun i ty, —theopportun ity wh ich comes to an Amer i can cit izen andg i ves h im the chance to become as great and as goodas any o ther man in the coun try . T hat i s what freedommean s here, it is what has been brought about by thek ind of men and women who sett led th is town , andI assure you that Newton br i ngs to you greet ings andhopes that you may at the nex t celebration after another hundred years have as p l easant and even a pleasanter reun ion than th is .‘May you be the same good fe llow, genial spir i t, man and

friendT ill the shadows fal l and lengthen , and life

’s beaten trackshall end .

’

THE CHA IRMAN . I t has been sa i d , I bel ieve,by some one that a man

’s b irthp lace is largely accidenta l , and I presume we have a very l i ttl e to say abouti t, but we have here a great many peop le who cla imNeedham as the ir b i rthp lace, and who have a feel ingof fr i endsh ip and loya l ty for our town , who take an


worl d except rel igi on .

’ The pastor understood that .A town wh ich for two hundred years has stood fa i thfu li n educat i on and c i v il and rel ig ious l iberty , j udged bythe standards of the town of Needham , has a r igh t tocelebrate i ts B i cen ten n i a l . A town wh ich has sen t outi ts gi r l s and boys imbued wi th those character i st i csthey have gotten here, who have made thei r mark i nbus i n ess and soci al l i fe of th i s Commonweal th , such atown has the r ight to celebrate her B i cen ten n i al Ann iversary wi th pr i de . I congratu l ate you , Mr . Chai rman ,on what appears to be a most remarkab le success t hatyour commi ttee has ach i eved , an d I th us publ i c lythank you for the inv i tat i on to th i s occas i on wh ich Icons i der a great comp l i men t . I am glad to see so manyhere from abroad and I am glad that Needham hasbeen honored by some of these tal en ted ones i n song ,i n verse an d i n serv i ce . I was glad to hear that poemlast n ight ; i t was a cred i t and an honor to the town andto the woman who wrote i t .

Let me, i n concl us ion , say that I trust that one ofthe lessons that w i l l be l earn ed today ou t of th i s cel ebrat i on wi l l be that wh ich has been thrust home ton ightmore than once—the duty of l oyal good c i t i zen sh ip .

Let every man and woman resol ve that the mora lstandard of Needham shal l n ever be lowered , and pu tyour hands upon your hearts an d p l edge you rselves i fyou are w ise that you wi l l n ever l et t h i s town be eugu lfed by any other mun ic ipal i ty , even Boston

[app l ause .]

THE CHA IRMAN : We have w i th us ton igh t therepresen tat i ve of a fam i ly wel l known by reputat ion ,an d known also by a large n umber of ou r c i t i zen s , th erepresen tat i ve of a fam i ly wh ich has taken act i ve parti n maki ng the h i story of Needham , and one wh ich hasalways held a p l ace of honor in our hearts . Weremem

THE BANQ UET—REV . G EORG E WHITAK ER

ber them and we respec t them , and i t is w i th p leas u retha t I ca l l upon D r . George Wh i taker .

REMARKS OF REV . GEORGE WH ITAKER

M r . Cha i rman . 1 was abou t to say Fe l low (‘

i t izcns o f Needham , for ] hard ly l i ke to ca l l mysel f nowany other than a Needham boy .

I am rem inded o f a certa i n d ign i tary of the ch urchwho had occas i on a t one t ime to pass th rough a sparse lyset t led sect ion of M i ssou ri , and because of the scarc i tyof prov i s ions found i t necessary for h is da i ly wan ts tomake appl i cat ion wherever opportun i ty occurred . I tis sa id that he came to the door o f a p leasan t appear i nglog cabi n , wi th its garden att ract i ve and beau t i fu labou t i t , and he made a req uest for a meal . A wel ld ressed lady o f part icu l ar a ttract i veness glad ly consen ted to supply h is n eed . Everyth i ng there denotedthe u tmost th r i f t and housew ifery . When the d i n n erwas served a negro came i n and took h i s seat a t thetable , and he proved to be the husband of th is womanwho had prov ided so wel l for her guest . Su rpri se wasexpressed that she shou ld have marr ied a negro , whenshe rep l i ed ,

— ‘

M y s is ter d id not fare any th i ng like aswel l as I d id , for she marr i ed a Yankee.

’

A nd I have come to cons ider the s i tuat ion of thatrela t i onsh ip , for t he term

‘

Yankee'

has grown to bewonderfu l ly strong . I t sta rted wel l—at the foundat ionof the sp l end id charac ter i st i cs the prais e o f wh ich wehave heard a good dea l dur i ng th i s ce lebrat ion . I twas , to be su re , confi ned large ly to England un t i l acerta i n m is understand ing grew up a l i t t le more thanfi fty years ago , but i t spread part ly by emigrat ion , andpart ly by a loya lty to the coun try

’

s wel fare , all overthese New England states ; amd a peculiar ideal of

NE EDHAM ’S BICENTENNIAL CELEBRATION

r ighteousness , that profound devot ion to efforts thatt h i s coun try shou ld stand as the represen tat i ve of ab sol u te freedom for church and state, and should becomea name i n deed , as i t had been a name i n verse—

‘

T heland of the free an d the home of the brave ,

’ an d thatsp i r i t marks genu i ne Yankeedom .

And so I l ove to th i nk that th i s town , as we haveheard over an d over aga i n , was set t l ed by th i s k i n dof peop l e . The fathers have done t hei r share i n g i v i ngus the character i st ics of h ighest manhood of mostsp l en d i d devot ion , of hero i c str i fe an d glor i ous v i ctory ,and that has given the Yankee name immortal i ty s i deby s i dewi th the best t h i ngs of Greece and Rome . Th i sterm has become s ign ifican t of our great Ameri canhonesty , and i s speak i ng to al l generat ion s as they comeand go i n to the act i v i t i es of l i fe .

I am here for j ust a few momen ts to cal l youratten t i on to the fact wh ich must not be forgotten , t hatl ike ol d Greece an d Rome that took i n to i tsel f by asystem of proselyt i sm al l the peop l es who were p l easedto accept i t s pr i nc ip l es , so t h i s Amer ica of ours i nv i test he peop l e of every land to come and take up our fa i th ,take up our courage , take up our nat i onal p rest igese i ze upon al l t hese app l i ances for the i nd i v i dua l growth ,for sp lend i d development , for hero i c ach i evemen t , forsupp lemen t i ng the i dea l to wh ich they perpetual lyasp i re . I t i s t h i s pr i nc ip l e to wh ich we i nv i te thepeop l e of every land to become a part of our great nat i ona l i ty

I cannot stop withou t cal l i ng you r atten t i on ,fr i ends

,to th i s fact , that our Amer i can s are fast becom

i ng a m i xture of ha lf a dozen old bloods ; and to aecom

plish t hat t here has been i ncorporated a l i t t l e German ,a l i t t l e Scan d i nav ian , a l i t t l e of the Lat i n races , someNorth Amer ican Ind ian , some Afr i can b lacks and someAztec, and put ting t he whole together , consecrating


I wou l d l ike to tel l of what th robs i n my heartas I recogn ize some of the men s i t t i ng i n th i s au

dience ton ight , who began to tu rn th i s lan d on ly goodenough to feed a few cows i n to a p lace fi l l ed wi thbus i n ess i n dust r i es, to feed factor ies and the i ndust r i es represen ted so n icely in the process i on th i smorn i ng .

I n those ear ly days there was j ust on e church.

There was on e i n what i s n ow Wel l es ley H i l l s , and therei s another a l i t t l e to the north of it— the ol d NeedhamC i rcu i t , and these const i t u ted the whole . Now seehow you are surroun ded w i th al l sorts of sp i r i t ua len l ightenmen t , and every Sabbath , and every newmoon , an d every fest i v i ty , you can consecrate yoursel ves w i th al l t hat i s nob l e in human character , an dal l t hat i s revealed i n the book of God . And i n th est rength of these t ru ths you go ou t to work , some i nBoston , some on the farm , some i n the l i n e of merchand ise , some at home, an d tra i n i ng you r ch i l dren to bemagn ificen t men , an d mak i ng sp len d i d women of thedaughters of your love . There i s noth i ng granderi n t h i s wor l d , and may there be noth i ng bet ter i n thewor l d to come .

I cal l to mind the fact that years ago the Son sof Temperance were organ i zed here, and that the orderi s st i l l a l i ve , as ev idenced i n your parade of th i s morn ing ,t he very regal i a of the first patr i arch be i ng exh ib i ted .

And may I rem i n d you of the rev ival of th i s same movemen t , an d urge upon you i n th i s commun i ty to makethe good work of the past a fit i n t roduct ion to theach i evemen ts of the future .

God bless Needham , i ts every i n hab i tan t , and thosethat w i l l come to catch the sp i r i t of the fathers, an dthe sp i r i t of those hereafter ; an d that th is town shal lgo on from strength to st rength an d from l ight to l igh t ,and from grace to grace, from the scenes of our earth ly

scen es of quiet at the r igh t hand of God .

M r . Cha i rman .

"

The audience row . and the occas i on ended wi ththe sm ging of one verse of “ Amer ica .

”

THE B A L L

T I! R E S UL T

N E EDHAM’


It was grat i fy i ng as well as pleasant to see manyof th e same faces day after day , sign i fying that theevent was not los i ng i n its force as th e program con

tinned ,—and those who we re obliged to l eave beforethe end d id so w ith gen u ine regret .What willbe the permanent effect of the ce lebra

t ion on the civ i c welfare of the town cann ot now bedetermined indirect ly , at least it must be benefi cial ;but N eedham

’

s B icentenn ial W 1 11 not be forgotten byt he present generat ion , an d w i thout doubt the recordhere preserved w i ll be enjoyed by many i n the futu re .

T H E E N D

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