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Gazette & Courier - Monday, September 20, 1875
Turners Falls
Turners Falls - The Montague Paper Company are laying about 1200 ft. of 12 inch pipe from Fall River, emptying into the Connecticut on the side opposite their mill, to furnish the increased amount of water they will need by the recent increase of capacity. They will dam Fall River, making quite a reservoir on that side, and will retain the water in a reservoir on this side, where it will be pumped as needed.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, September 20, 1875
Oration of Hon. George B. Loring at Bloody Brook, Sept. 17, 1875
Oration of Hon. George B. Loring at Bloody Brook, Sept. 17, 1875 - Fellow citizens: 200 years ago an event occurred on this spot, which on account of its significance and its touching details, has passed into that long heroic line over which the mind of man is compelled to pause and ponder...At the name of Bloody Brook the men, women, and children of New England started and held their breath in horror, in that primeval time when the sickening tidings were borne on the wings of the wind as it were from hamlet to hamlet...
The sad event of the 18th of September 1675, calls upon us still to remember the trials through which our fathers passed and to rejoice over that fraternal spirit which bound them together in their day of sorrow, and watered the soil of this charming valley with the choicest blood of the sons of Essex. I stand on ground made sacred to you by the sacrifices of your hardy and devoted progenitors; but I meet here the names of Lothrop and Stevens and Hobbs and Manning and Dodge and Kimball and Trask and Tufts and Mudge and Pickering, of the three-score braves who died that you might possess this goodly land and these pleasant homes...
How would they who were familiar with the cruel warfare of the savage; whose ears had heard the shrieks of the tortured mother mingling with the groans of her dying child, and whose eyes had beheld her fear, her patience and her despair; whose highway was an Indian trail, and whose home was a frontier block-house - how would they rejoice over these sunny fields, these laughing harvests, these busy towns, these tasteful homes, this cultivated landscape adorned with these institutions of learning and religion; and how would they count their own sufferings but small when compared with the manifold blessings which have descended upon the spot made sacred with their blood?
...Deerfield two centuries ago, was on the very confines of civilization - one of the outposts of a feeble Christian people, who had hardly a foothold on this continent, and between whom and the strongholds of power and wealth and learning, rolled 3000 miles of stormy and almost unknown sea. The fate of a great and wide spread empire rested then in the hands of a few colonists scattered along the Atlantic seaboard, divided in interests and tastes, perishing continually from exposure and want, not all actuated by the highest motives, but all recognizing, as by an unerring instinct, the fundamental principle out of which was to grow the American government, and all in danger of being exterminated at any time by the "pestilence which walketh in darkness and the destruction which wasteth at noonday".
Scattered up and down the great extent of territory stretching from the Passamaquoddy Bay to the capes of Florida were but about 200,000 souls, of whom Massachusetts, with Plymouth and Maine, may have had 44,000; New Hampshire and Rhode Island, with Providence each 6000; Connecticut from 17,000 to 20,000; that is, all New England, 75,000...
These people had come largely from that "Germanic race most famed for the love of personal independence". They were not men of high estate, but they were men who possessed an inherent love of land, with all the individual honor and freedom which go along with it...
Of one colony said "Spotswood, a royalist, a High churchman, a traveler", "I have observed here less swearing and profaneness, less drunkenness and debauchery, less uncharitable feuds and animosities, and less knaverys and villanys than in any part of the world where my lot has been"...
In all their customs they were obliged to exercise the utmost simplicity and they voluntarily regulated their conduct by those formal rules, which, in their day, constituted the Puritan’s guide through the world. We are told, as an illustraton of their character and manners, that by the laws of the Plymouth Colony, in 1651, "dancing at weddings was forbidden". In 1660, one William Walker was imprisoned one month for courting "a maid without the leave of her parents".
In 1675, because "there is manifest pride appearing in our streets", the "wearing of long hair or periwigs", and so "superstitious ribands, used to tie up and decorate the hair were forbidden under severe penalty"; the keeping of Christmas was also forbidden "because it was a popish custom". In 1677 an act was passed "to prevent the profaneness of turning the back upon the public worship before it was finished and the blessing pronounced".
Towns were directed to erect a cage near the meeting house, and in all this all offenders against the sanctity of the Sabbath were confined. At the same time children were directed to be placed in a particular part of the meeting house, apart by themselves, and tything-men were ordered to be chosen, whose duty it shall be to take care of them. So strict were they in their observance of the Sabbath that "John Atherton, a soldier of Col. Tyng’s Company", was fined 40 shillings for wetting a piece of an old hat to put into his shoes, which chafed his feet on the march; and those who neglected to attend meeting for 3 months were publicly whipped.
Even in Harvard College students were whipped for gross offenses in the Chapel, in presence of students and professors, and prayers were had before and after the infliction of the punishment. As the settlers of Deerfield are described as being of "sober and orderly conversation", we may suppose that these laws and customs were here rigidly enforced.
[Here follows a section on "subsistence and diet of your ancestors". Also talks about how they were good farmers, fishermen and readers]...
...Possessed evidently of a common origin, for "between the Indians of Florida and Canada the difference was scarcely perceptible", they were divided into tribes, which differed from each other mainly in their fighting capacity, and the vigor with which they roamed from place to place; and they were liable at any time to be swept off by disease, or exterminated by war, or absorbed by other and more powerful tribes.
In language, the North American Indian was limited by the material world, an abstract idea finding no birthplace in his brain and no expression on his tongue. "In marriage the Indian abhorred restraint, and from Florida to the S. Lawrence polygamy was permitted". Divorce meant merely desertion. The wife was a slave. Domestic government was unknown. The Indian youth grew up a warrior, adorned with vermilion and eagle’s feather, as fleet of foot as the deer, and as tolerant of hunger as the wolf; the Indian girl grew up a squaw, degraded and squalid and servile.
A rude agriculture, resulting in a weedy corn crop, and a few squashes and beans, was the Indian’s, or rather the Indian woman’s occupation; he had neither trade nor manufactures. "There can be no society without government; but among the Indian tribes on the soil of our republic, there was not only no written law - there was no traditionary [sic] expression of law; government rested on opinion and usage and the motives to the usage were never imbodied [sic] in language; they gained utterance only in the fact, and power only from opinion...
The Indian had a government without laws; a State without institutions; a church without faith, or creed, or head; a town without schoohouse or meeting house; a punitive system without jails or gibbets; a history based on tradition; a religion based on superstition; he was ignorant of the ownership of land; and knew nothing of a system of inheritance.
As in peace he was an idler - so in war he was a marauder. An organized army was to him unknown. He fought in small bands, seldom over 50 in number, to surprise and slaughter. He pursued, and killed, and scalped. He had neither commissariat nor hospital. He fought his enemy in the rear and in ambush; and he tortured and roasted and devoured his captives. These were the national characteristics which our fathers found on this continent.
Nor did their attempts to modify and humanize and Christianize them meet with much success. The Indian could be tamed, but he was the Indian still...Neither John Eliot nor Roger Williams was able to change essentially the habits and character of the New England tribes..."They are unspeakably indolent and slothful; they deserve little gratitude; they seem to have no sentiments of generosity, benevolence or goodness".
The Moravian Loskiel could not change their character...In New Hampshire and elsewhere schools for Indian children were established; but as they became fledged they all escaped, refusing to be caged. Harvard College enrolls the name of an Algonquin youth among her pupils; but the college parchment could not close the gulf between the Indian character and the Anglo American.
The copper colored men are characterized by a moral inflexibility, a rigidity of attachment to their hereditary customs and manners. The birds and brooks, as they chime forth their unwearied canticles, chime them ever to the same ancient melodies; and the Indian child, as it grows up, displays a propensity to the habits of its ancestors...
The trouble lay deeper. Year after year the Indian discovered an irreconcilable difference between himself and the stranger...When he entered the home of the settler, he discovered that the joys of the fireside could never be found in the group squatted beneath the shelter of the wigwam. He felt the antagonism - and his soul burned within him. The strife was not for land...It was for supremacy. And as revenge is stronger than ambition, and hate is stronger than avarice, so the war raged with unspeakable fury, and was as cruel as the passions of a desperate savage could make it.
The great contest which grew out of this antagonism, and lasted more than a year, unabated either by the heat of summer or the frosts of winter, threatening destruction to the New England colonies, was known as Philip’s War. With the story of this conflict you are all familiar. The peaceful death of Massasoit at a good old age, after a long life of friendly relations with the Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay colonies; the sadder death of his son Alexander, worried out of life by the failure of his intrigues against the colony, and the exposure of his meanness and his crimes; the gradual development of the worst of passions in the breast of Philip, and his passage from treachery to war are all fresh in the memory of all who have traced the hard path which our fathers traveled in the work of settling these shores.
The war which began in Swanzey on the 24th of June, 1675, reached this spot on the 18th of September - three months of murder, and fire, and all the bloody horrors of savage warfare. At the time the war broke out Deerfield had been settled 10 years, or had been deeded for the purposes of settlement to John Pynchon that length of time. It was then, as it is now, one of the most delightful spots in New England...
And here in the luxurience of that natural beauty, and in the wealth of wood and stream, the Indian found his favorite resort. In this town and in the towns of Hadley and Hatfield he mustered a numerous and a powerful tribe. And upon these lands purchased by the settlers, with titles confirmed by the court, the whites and Indians lived together in peace for years. It is amazing with what rapidity the war, once opened, spread from village to village, and from tribe to tribe in this wilderness...
The Pocumtucks had received their orders - and in a day had stepped from the blessings of peace to the misery of war. having promsied to deliver up their arms, on suspicion that they might misuse them, they broke their promise, fled to Sugar loaf Hill, engaged with Captains Beers and Lothrop commanding the English here, lost 26 of their number, and then sought shelter under the standard of King Philip...
Deerfield too was abandoned; and the attempt to secure a quantity of wheat which had just been partially threshed by the farmers there before their flight, resulted in the massacre which still thrills me with horror, and the anniversary of which we have met to commemorate...From behind hundreds of trees the savages poured their deadily [sic] fire. At the first volley many were killed, and the remainder were panic stricken...Lothrop...was among the first to fall. The savages, numbering nearly 700, "rushed upon the defenceless men, and the work of slaughter was soon complete.
But 6 or 7 Englishmen escaped to tell the tale, of whom one had been shot and tomahawked and left for dead, and another forced his way through the yelling ranks of the savages with the but [sic] of his musket...
While the Indians were employed in mangling, scalping and stripping the dying and the dead, Captain Moseley, who, as has been observed, was ranging the woods, hearing the report of musketry, hastened by a forced march to the relief of his brethren. The Indians, confiding in their superior numbers, taunted him as he advanced, and dared him to the contest. Moseley came on with firmness, repeatedly charged through them, and destroyed a large number with the loss on his side of but 2 killed and 11 wounded...
A quantity of bones lately found in that quarter is very probably the remains of the Indians who fell there at the close of the action. The united English force encamped for the night at Deerfield. They returned in the morning to bury the dead and found a party of the Indians upon the field stripping the bodies of their victims. These they quickly dispatched, and the remains of the brave young men, or some portion of them, were committed to the earth near the spot which we have this day consecrated anew to their memory.
The stream on whose banks they fell, and whose water ran red with their blood, has been called from that day, in memory of the disaster, Bloody Brook...[Two more entire columns follow, but they are quite blurry and unreadable].
Gazette & Courier - Monday, September 13, 1875
Turners Falls
Turners Falls - About 2 months since, some of the young men of each denomination here came together to organize an association, encouraged by Rev. Mr. Groth, Rev. Mr. Howes and Rev. Mr. Seaver. Till the present month they have held their meetings in the chapels of the churches and at Wood's Hall, Riverside. For the present month they have pitched a large tent on the Avenue on 4th Street, in which meetings are to be held whenever circumstances will permit. Last eve., Wed. was the first.
The meeting was largely attended, the tent being filled and the number outside being a hundred or more....the addresses being interspersed with singing and praying. Considering the large no. present, and the fact that we are a manufacturing people, the order was better than should be expected, without the assistance of others to enforce order, and the result of the meeting was gratifying to the friends of the association...
Gazette & Courier - Monday, September 6, 1875
Turners Falls
Turners Falls - Black bass are more than usually abundant in the Connecticut River this season, and several of the business men had a bass dinner at the Farren House Thurs., from a big bass caught by one of them.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, September 6, 1875
Turners Falls
Turners Falls - R.L. Goss contemplates building a small steamer next year, to carry excursion parties between Turners Falls and Bellows Falls, some 40 miles. The navigation would be practicable during common height of water, and the trip would be through most wild and picturesque scenery.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, August 30, 1875
News of the week
A party of 3 young men, each about 23 years of age, Robert McGown, Thomas Grady and Frank McGuire, were rowing in the Connecticut just above the South Holyoke Ferry about 3 o'clock Sat. aft, having a merry time, insomuch that the boat capsized. McGuire got to the shore, but his companions were drowned, Grady sinking in the middle of the river, and McGown when 20 feet from the shore.
Turners Falls bridge - Plans of the proposed bridge are now ready at the office of the Clerk of Courts, which have been drawn by E.A. Stratton, the Engineer employed by the County Commissioners. The specifications require that the bridge shall have a carriage way of 18 ft. in the clear, and a projecting sidewalk on either side of 5 ft. in the clear. The bridge shall be capable of sustaining 80 lbs. to the square foot, exclusive of its own weight.
From the Turners Falls side of the river to Great Island, the bridge is to be built of iron, of a suspension or truss form as may be decided upon. The span for a truss bridge over the present canal shall be 75, 100 or 150 ft. as may be determined...From Great Island to Gill shore, there will be a clear span of about 210 ft., making a total length of 960 ft. The masonry for the bridge is to be of that character called "first class rubble". The stones are to be of a hard and durable quality, and so quarried as to admit of being laid in regular courses without hammer dressing, and all to be laid in the best quality of hydraulic cement mortar.
Particular attention must be giver to the up-river ends of the piers in the main channel of the river, and cut-water points are required of similar style as in the piers of the Montague bridge, and all the stone in the up-river end of the piers are to be dowelled together up to high water line. In quantity there will be about 1630 cable yards of masonry. There will be embankments required of approaches to the abutments, and excavations for the roadway on Great Island, which will amount to about 2800 cubic yards.
Proposals will be received for the whole work or separately, as parties may prefer, and all work to be done to the acceptance of the county commissioners. The plans take from the east end of the Montague Paper Mill about 20 ft., and keeps clear of the Clark & Chapman machine shop. The estimate is as follows: 1630 yards of masonry at $7, $11,410; 2800 yards of earth work at 25 cents, $700; the price of the superstructure will determine the balance of the cost; assuming that the entire bridge may be made of wood, at a cost not exceeding $30 per lineal foot, the amount would be $28,800, making the total cost $40,910.
It is claimed that a truss bridge or a suspension bridge can be built at low figures as those given in the estimate. The matter of damages is the most serious difficulty to be disposed of. It will be remembered that the act of Legislature requiring the construction of the bridge limits the cost to $42,000. Now it is claimed that the land damage should not be included in this sum, and high legal opinion has been obtained which takes this view of the question. A no. of bridge builders have made inquiries either by letters or by personal visits, and bids are likely to be made at quite low figures. If the bridge is to be built, a time will never be found when it can be done cheaper than now.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, August 16, 1875
Turners Falls
A.P. Richardson, who superintended the excavations in the new canal last fall, has just gone to Bangor, Maine, to build a dam 900 ft. long, larger than the one at Turners Falls, to cost over $100,000 and to take over a year in construction.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, August 16, 1875
Superior Court
[Tried during the same session as the Woodard libel trial]. Peleg Adams vs. John Single, and Single vs. Adams were both tried at the same time, the first being on a promissory note in payment (or in part payment) of a building lot, bought by the defendant. The answer to the first suit is the declaration of the second, which alleges that the consideration of the note has failed by reason of Rev. Mr. Schwartz holding the land bought adversely. The case practically resolves itself into the same old boundary line between the plaintiff's (Adams) land and the Schwartz farm, and which was fought over in the Hartley vs. Adams case some two years ago.
The boundary in question is from a point near the suspension bridge over the Connecticut River, leading from Greenfield to Turners Falls, thence westerly to the highway leading from Greenfield to Factory Hollow. The same old "Indian Trail", "white pine stump" and "line trees" figure again as freshly to this jury as if they had not been as circumstantially rehearsed over the Hartley trial.
As in the former case, the jury were taken over the ground to view the disputed boundary. If the line shows that the land did not belong to Adams, of course the first case fails, and the plaintiff in the second action will recover what he has paid, with his expense in preparing for the erection of his house, and the note given for part payment will fail for want of consideration. The cases were given to the jury Sat., but no verdict given at the time of going to print. G.L. Barton and W.S.B. Hopkins for Single; S.O. Lamb and F.G. Fessenden for Adams. The criminal cases will be taken up today (Monday).
Gazette & Courier - Monday, August 16, 1875
Montague City
R.L. Goss, who had built 4 scows to be used in the work of constructing protections for the river bank near Northampton, launched them, and at about 11 o'clock on Thurs., with some 100 invited ladies and gentlemen, started on a voyage down the Connecticut. The scows were nailed together, and an awning was put up to protect the gay party from the sun or rain. The Montague City band furnished music, and refreshments were taken on the passage. It had been proposed to make Northampton before the arrival there of the evening train, and by that means be able to go back home.
But the wind was "dead ahead", and in spite of poling and rowing, very slow progress was made. The scows finally put into port at Sunderland bridge, the party being satisfied with their experience on the "blue wave". But it was a jolly trip, and they didn't mind in the least "footing it" to the depot at South Deerfield.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, August 16, 1875
Mr. George Rockwood
Mr. George G. Rockwood, photographer of New York, is with his family at Bernardston for the summer. Mr. Rockwood is justly counted in the profession a very capable hand in making a flattering picture, so we excuse the following panegyric. He writes: "This region is the Eden of this country, an is now in its fullest glory. Magnificent old hills stand sentry over this peaceful, beautiful valley of the Connecticut, and drive or walk where you will, you are met with new, ever changing and surprisingly beautiful pictures. Paraphrasing Washington Irving, every Yankee thanks God he was born in New England". N.Y. Home Journal.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, August 9, 1875
Turners Falls
The rear of the entire drive of logs has reached Turners Falls, and with the late rain the river will be high enough to continue it to its destination without delay. There are 150 men with the drive.
The County Commissioners have located the Turners Falls bridge, and the Turners Falls terminus will cut off an upper story of the north end of the Montague paper mill, but will not interfere with the building of the Clark & Chapman Machine co. The Commissioners advertise elsewhere for proposals. The bridge is to be completed before May 1, 1877.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, August 2, 1875
Turners Falls
A.W. Stevens took his final departure Thurs. He has been one of the most active business men in this place, especially in securing the new bridge across the Connecticut at "Great Island".
Gazette & Courier - Monday, August 2, 1875
Ingleside
Ingleside, the well known summer resort about 3 miles southwest of Holyoke, was completely destroyed by fire Sun. eve. It was built by J.S. Davis of Holyoke a few years ago at a cost of $156,000, but was sold in 1874 to N.S. Chandler of Springfield for $30,000, and has not been open for guests this season.
[See Google books "New England, a handbook for Travellers [sic]"
By Moses Foster Sweetser, 1875].
Engines were sent over from Holyoke, but were useless, as there was no water, except in a small reservoir, and none could be pumped up from the Connecticut. Eighty tons of hay were burned int he barn, and only a small portion of the furniture was saved - even that in a damaged condition. The insurance is $20,000. The fire was undoubtedly an incendiary.
[Of course this is now the site of the famous Holyoke Mall at Ingleside, the largest mall for many miles around].
Gazette & Courier - Monday, August 2, 1875
Pilgrim monument
Enough money has been subscribed to complete, this summer, the pilgrim monument at Plymouth, except the surmounting statue of Faith, the working model of which has been placed into the hands of Batterson & Co. of Hartford, Ct. [Now called National Monument to the Forefathers. Check it out at Wikipedia].
Gazette & Courier - Monday, July 26, 1875
Turners Falls
The Engineer is estimating the cost of masonry for the various styles of bridge proposed cross the river, and when he gets his estimates completed, the Commissioners will be ready to ascertain the amount of land damage to be paid.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, July 26, 1875
Turners Falls
The logs are beginning to run in considerable numbers, and there is a big jam at the "French King" some 4 or 5 miles up the River. The Turners Falls Company are removing the rocks thrown into the log way last winter, by the blasting for the fish-way, as the drivers threatened to send their logs over the dam, if the "way" was not cleared.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, July 26, 1875
Turners Falls
While Chris Crimmer and Alfred Adams were working in the flume of the Montague Mill the other day, J.D. Farwell incautiously opened the wicket gate, the water coming in in such force as to almost drown the occupants of the flume. One of the men managed to get to the man hole before the water rose far, but the other was completely drenched.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, July 26, 1875
Montague City
The Hampden County Commissioners have contracted with R.L. Goss of Montague City to build them 4 scows with a tonnage of 30 tons each, at a cost of $1100, for the proposed work of protecting the east bank of the Connecticut River beyond the bridges. They are to be delivered at the bridges by 7 o’clock Mon. morning, Aug. 16th.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, July 26, 1875
Franklin County tax payers
Greenfield - no. of polls, 927; in 1874, 929; valuation of personal property, 1875, $853,973; in 1874, $828,853; valuation of real estate, 1875, $1,969,665; in 1874, $1,954,790; total valuation, 1875, $2,823,638; in 1874, $2,783,653; rate, 1875, $14.50 per thousand; 1874, $13.50 per thousand.
The following is a list of persons who pay a tax of $25 and upwards, not including fire district tax, which will be about $3 on $1000.
Abell, George A., $41.15
Austin, Thomas N., $33.90
Adams, George C., $87.70
Adams, Peleg, $360.50
Adams, John A., $85.52
Amidon, J.H., $26.65
Avery estate, $30.45
Allen, William H., $89
Allen, F.R., $89
Allen, S’s Sons, $304.50
Allen, George A., $44.05
Allen, Quintas, $83.20
Allen, John S. & Son, $44.82
Arms, George A., $413.80
Arms, Elihu G., $46.95
Aiken, David, $65.80
Ames, James M., $129.75
Ames, James M., trustee, $87
Ames, George, $33.90
Alexander, A.A., $38.83
Farrell, Lewis, $36
Fisk, Dr. Charles L., $53
Fitzgerald, P.M., $60
Fitzgerald, John, $70
Field, F.E., $31
Farnsworth & Persons, $30
Field, Albert A., $29
Field, Charles R., $183
Field, & Hall, $29
Forbes, William A., $119
Fuller, Mrs. H.M., $36
Frary, George W. $115
Forbes & Foster, $6
Fellows, M.S., $78
Felton, J.P., $99
Field, Mrs. A.R., $75
First National Bank, $174 (had Nirst)
Franklin County National Bank, $362
Grennell, George, $212 (also seen as Grinnell)
Graves, John J., $45
Graves, Luther L., $35
Graves, Mrs. J.M., $31
Graves, Alonzo, $89
Gascouigne, J.F., $49
Griswold, W., estate, $40
Griswold, Duloie, g’d’n, $108
Griswold J.F., $83
Gunn, Levi J., $66
Greenfield Tool Co., $420
Gazette & Courier - Monday, July 26, 1875
News about home: Greenfield items
A sad catastrophe occurred at Cheapside on Thurs. Little Annie Strong, a 2 year old child of Solomon E. Strong, who has care of the Connecticut River Railroad Bridge, and who resides near its terminus, was left by its mother a few moments in a room with other small children. Climbing in a chair to a shelf, she reached some matches and set her clothing on fire. The mother was alarmed by the screams of the children, and rushing into the house found the little one severely burned. Drs. Severance and Walker were called, but it was impossible to save the child's life. She lingered until Fri. morning, suffering terribly. Mr. Strong is the sexton of the Episcopal Church.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, July 19, 1875
Turners Falls
In expectation of the annual "drive" of logs, a boom has been stretched from the dam up the rive, so as to send the logs down the west side of Great Island.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, July 19, 1875
The Odd Fellows [or Oddfellows] at Lake Pleasant
Seldom have fairer skies lured the picnicker to the Lake than shone last Thurs., upon the occasion of the fourth annual picnic of the Connecticut River Valley Association of Odd Fellows. http://www.ioof.org/ The river towns were well represented, many coming from Northampton, Holyoke and Springfield to the south; From Shelburne Falls and North Adams via the Tunnel, to the West; from Fitchburg and Leominster, with intermediate towns to the east, while from Keene, N.H. and Brattleboro, Ct., good delegations were sent. The no. of lodges present was 19, and encampments, 3; estimated to have been 1200 members of the Order, and with their ladies and friends, from 3000 to 4000 persons at the Lake during the day.
The general exercises were begun with the band concert in the Grove, the Hartford City Band leading, following which, the Brattleboro and Keene Brass bands kept the air resounding with melody. The first named band seemed to be the favorite, and executed some very fine pieces, among which an overture, "The Golden Crown" and "Potpourri" from Bellisario were the best, while "Concert Polka" by the Keene Band, with a solo by Will Allen, was decidedly applauded.
The exercises at the speaker’s stand were of the first order; the principal thing being the address by the orator of the day, Rev. A.H. Sweetser of Springfield, who was introduced to the audience by H.A. Bowen of Shelburne Falls, President of the Association. The speaker in opening, referred to the symbolism of Odd Fellowship as being in consonance with everything around us; as light symbolizes heaven, darkness hell; flowers of fragrance, and all nature as of God; so the "clasped hands", the "three links", etc. of the Order, spoke of great truths, and symbols were right if they had truth behind them.
The system of Odd Fellowship came, not as an interloper upon earth, but it was formed to fill a need, and it came to stay, as long as irreligion and want were abroad among men. by association, which as the name implied meant strength - they would apply their principles to the wants and needs of life. Friendship, love and truth were the threefold cords which they were to use, and for which they should labor with their united strength. If you obey the principles of our order, said the speaker, you have no need of liturgies or dogmas, but you have enough to carry you through life and into the gates of the Celestial City.
He next referred to the need of sympathy; on the need of extending it to every man; for no man lived but what had a heart and a spark of God within him. Our present social and educational fabric was characterized as wholly wrong. Social life was shoddy; the ill educated were put forward, and to "shine well" without "being well", was the curse of the world. Odd Fellowship was to correct this; it found alone the man, and whatever his cost; it discerned true worth and gave to it its true respect.
The speaker next passed to the feminine branch of the Order, if it may be thus called, and dwelt with words of praise on the "Sisterhood of Rebecca". He said they found no time to mount the rostrum and to proclaim their duties and rights by noisy words, but in the quiet paths of home and the sphere in which their branch of the order furnished them, they performed the noblest duties of life. In closing, he said that the great duty of the fraternity was to bring people together, to root out sectarian feeling in the churches, and to teach all the true spirit of humanity and brotherhood.
The address was well written and delivered in an excellent manner, occupying about 40 minutes, during which time the vast crowd remained quiet, listening with evident satisfaction. The various exercises at the stand were interspersed by several good songs by J.A. Maxam of Keene, and glees by a male quartette from the same place. Billy Fisher of Springfield amused the people considerably by rendering one or two comic pieces and the delivery of a stump speech.
During the afternoon, the lovers of the "light fantastic" crowded the Pavilion, tripping to the notes of Southland’s Orchestra of Springfield, while a majority of the balance pressed the borders sof the Lake to catch a glimpse of the boat and tub races. For some reason, the contestants for the prizes of the athletic sports rather held back, and for a time it seemed as this part of the programme would have to be omitted; but champions at last were found, and the races had, with the following results:
Boat race for men, 3/4 of a mile with turn, 3 entries, prize, a gold-lined silver goblet, won by Henry Howell of Springfield; boat race for ladies, half mile and turn, 2 entries, first prize a silver butter dish, won by Miss Mary Mehony; second prize, a gold lined silver cup, won by Miss Nellie Malone, both of Springfield. the tub race, 100 yards with turn, 3 entries, prize a gold lined silver spoon holder, won by John McHanna of Springfield. The sack race, 200 yards with turn, two entries, prize a silver napkin ring with stand, was also won by John McHanna.
The general exercises, except the dancing, closed with a dress parade in regalia, by the Agawam Oasis and Monadnock encampments. While the crowd were enjoying the public programme, the knots of hundreds were equally interested by the semi-public amusements of boating on the lake, swinging in the grove, eating and drinking and marveling at the talking wonders of Punch and Judy. quiet and good order reigned, and all interested voted it the most successful picnic of the Association.
- Fri, Feb 12, 2010
