Cambridge City (part 7 of 15)

The Cambridge settlers, like all the New England people, were remarkably homogeneous in race and in spirit. They were of pure English stock. Their traditions, their religious convictions, their ideas about forms of government and the administration of justice were practically identical. There were very few social distinctions. Some of the pioneers had been in England substantial country gentlemen and others had been merchants of considerable means, but in New England there were no large landed estates and there was no law of entail. The magistrates, who were generally chosen from the most respected families, and on account of their own worth, were held in a certain honor. The military offices in the several towns were also posts of honor and the regular days for military drill were occasions of importance. It was also the custom to allot the seats of the congregation in the meeting-house with regard to the dignity of its members, an order of precedence which was carefully determined. Nevertheless, as in all pioneer communities, all the people labored, debated and worshipped together. Trial bj' jury was early established in the Massachusetts Colony. There were town courts and county courts, and above them the Court of Assistants, and the General Court, to which appeal might be carried in important cases. The decision of the magistrates was final. There was never any recognition of the control of the common law of England, and any effort to take appeals to an English court or king was sure to fail.

The military force of the Massachusetts Colony was a militia in which all the men between the ages of sixteen and sixty were enrolled. They were required to furnish their own arms, which consisted of pikes, muskets and swords. The muskets had matchlocks or flintlocks, and to each one there was "a pair of bandoleers, or pouches, for powder and bullets," and a stick called a rest, for use in taking aim. The pikes were ten feet in length, besides the spear at the end. For defensive armor corselets were worn, and coats quilted with cotton.

The unit of the militia was the train-band of each to^vn, consisting usually of from fifty to two hundred men. The commissioned officers of each train-band were a captain, a lieutenant and an ensign. Company trainings took place, at first, every Saturday; and later once a month. They were begun and closed with prayer. The only martial music was that of the drum. In 1644 Massachusetts had twentysix train-bands, and "a very gallant horse troop." The companies were gathered into regiments, which generally represented a county. There was, thus, a Suffolk, a Middlesex and an Essex regiment. Over the whole force of the Colony was a major-general, subordinate only to the governor.

Cambridge citizens had a very active part in all these military matters. Thomas Dudley was the first major-general, John Haynes was the colonel of the Middlesex regiment, and Roger Harlakenden the lieutenant-colonel. The Cambridge train-band was commanded by George Cooke, afterwards one of Cromwell's colonels, and its ensign was Samuel Shepard who also later served as a major in the Parliamentary army. Joseph Cooke succeeded his brother as captain, but was soon relieved by Daniel Gookin, who retained the office for forty years, rising meanwhile to the command of all the Middlesex militia, and in 16S1 to be major-general.

Houses of public entertainment were naturally established early in the Massachusetts towns, but great caution was taken in the licensing of "grave and responsible citizens." On September 8, 1636, Thomas Chesholm, deacon of the First Church, got a license to "keep a house of entertainment at Newtown," and four years later he was licensed "to draw wine at Cambridge." His tavern stood on Dunster Street, just back of the meetinghouse, and he apparently kept it until his death in 1071. Meanwhile, another deacon of the church, Nathaniel Sparhawk, was "permitted to draw wine and strong water in Cambridge." His house was on the easterly side of Boylston Street, one-half way between Harvard Square and Mt. Auburn Street. In 1652 we find the first record of the famous Blue Anchor Tavern. In that year "the townsmen granted liberty to Andrew Belcher to sell beer and provide entertainment for strangers," and two years later the County Court granted him a license "to keep a house of public entertainment at Cambridge." Mr. Belcher was a highly-respected man. His son, Andrew Belcher, Jr., became a member of the Provincial Council, and his grandson, Jonathan Belcher, became governor of Massachusetts. The sign of the Blue Anchor was displayed on the northeast comer of Boylston and Mt. Auburn Streets, and the Belcher family continued to be innholders until 1705. The building continued to be a tavern up to 1737, when the sign of the Blue Anchor was transferred across the street and there continued for nearly a centurs'.

It is not difficult to reconstruct a rough picture of the Cambridge of the last half of the seventeenth century. The original loghouses were gradually replaced b}' substantial two-story dwellings. These houses were closely grouped together in the settled part of the town, and eastward and northward stretched the cultivated lands, diversified by the marshes and gently sloping hills. Most of the houses were reasonably commodious. The lower floor, as a rule, contained a hall, a living-room and a kitchen, and the upper story, four chambers. The furniture was mostly homemade, for it was almost impossible to import in the small sailing vessels of the time, any considerable amount of household furniture from England. Furniture, with the exception of beds and mattresses, is seldom mentioned as an asset in the wills of the period, showing that it must have been of small value. A good many families had silver heirlooms, which were transmitted from generation to generation. Of musical instruments there is no trace whatever.

that Winthrop censured because its interior panelling and general finish were "too fine for the wilderness." It stood at what is now the comer of Dunster and South Streets, on the first rise of land above the salt marshes that bordered the river. When Dudley removed to Ipswich his Cambridge estate was purchased by Roger Harlakenden who was the chief layman of Cambridge until his untimely death in 1638, at the age of twenty-seven. He was selectman, an assistant, and lieutenantcolonel of the Middlesex regiment. His children went back to England with their stepfather in 16-1:9. Harlakenden's widow married Herbert Pelham, who came to Cambridge a widower in 1638. He was an English countrj^ gentleman of good family and substantial means who at once took a place of leadership in the community and Colony. He took up his residence in the Dudley-Harlakenden house, and soon became the largest landed proprietor in Cambridge. He cleared and developed large farms south of the river, on the Harlakenden property in Lexington and Bedford, and on the rising ground, long known as Pelham's Island, in what is now the most thickly-settled part of Cambridgeport. He was successively selectman, assistant and commissioner of the United Colonies, and he was the first treasurer of Harvard College. In 1()49 he returned to England with his family, became a member of Parliament, and there rendered frequent and important services to Massachusetts and the sister colonies. Mr. Pelham not only owned the Dudley homestead, but also the house originally built by Simon Bradstreet, which stood on the east side of Boylston Street, near Harvard Square.

The next most important houses in the village were those originally built by Governor Haynes and by Thomas Hooker. These were occupied after their departure respectively by President Dunster of the College, and by the minister, Thomas Shepard, who married Hooker's daughter. The Haynes-Dunster house stood on the west side of the marketplace, which is now Winthrop Square, and the Hooker-Shepard house stood next the college building about where Boylston Hall now stands in the College Yard.

The Community

Joseph Cooke, who ran the ferry at the foot of Dunster Street, had an estate of some five acres on the eastern side of Holyoke Street below Mt. Auburn Street, and was a large land owner in other parts of the town. He was for many years selectman, town clerk for five years and representative for six years. He returned to England in 1658, but his descendants are numerous in the community. It is noticeable that Mr. Cooke and his brother, George Cooke, who came over with Thomas Shepard and Roger Harlakenden in 1635, were, in the list of the ship's company, called "servants to Mr. Harlakenden," but this was evidently a disguise to get them safely out of England. Both the brothers were among the foremost of the Cambridge settlers, and were evidently men of comparative wealth. George Cooke besides being selectman, deputy, speaker of the house and commissioner of the United Colonies, was conspicuous in military affairs. He was the first captain of the Cambridge train-band, and later captain of the artillery. He lived at the other end of the village from his brother Joseph, his estate extending along the northern side of what is now Eliot Street. In 1645, George Cooke returned to England, became a colonel in Cromwell's army, and was killed in battle in Ireland, in 1652.

Another serviceable citizen was Edward Gofle, who also came over with Shepard and Harlakenden and broke out of the wilderness a large farm at the extreme eastern edge of the village. His land stretched from Shepard's house, next the college building, eastward to Dana Hill, and he built his dwelling about at the comer of Quincy and Harvard Streets. He was a magistrate, a representative, for sixteen years a selectman, and he apparently paid a larger tax than any Cambridge man except Mr. Pelham. His descendants were prominent in town affairs until the revolution.

Among the other Cambridge families of the earliest generation, two are deserving of special remembrance. Edmund Angier was one of the earliest settlers, and built, in 1636, a dwelling opposite the meeting-house, or on the northwest comer of Dunster and Mt. Auburn Streets. He soon began to keep what we should now call a general or variety store, on the comer diagonally across from the homestead. Dunster Street, with the ferry at its foot, was thus the main street of the village. When the visitor landed at the ferry and climbed the sloping bank of the river he came first to the mansion of Mr. Pelham, the only citizen whose name always had "Esquire" written after it. Then on the left, he came to Deacon Chesholm's inn, and then to the meeting-house, with Angler's store facing it across Dunster Street, and Angler's house across Mt. Auburn Street, or as it was then called. Spring Street. There were three dwellings on the eastern side between the Angier house and the "Printery," at the corner of Dunster Street and Harvard Square. Turning there a little to the right, the visitor would come to the college building and the house of Rev. Thomas Shepard.

The mention of the "Printery" recalls the chief Cambridge industry of the earlier days and its fortunes. Stephen Day, his son Matthew Day, and his wife's son by a former marriage, William Boardman, came over together and set up the press on the Dunster Street comer. The younger Day did the printing, and after his death, in 1649, Samuel Green came to run the press and had charge of it for nearly fifty years. He lived in a house across Dunster Street from the press, and about where Holyoke House now stands. Meanwhile William Boardman inherited the estate where the press was located, and later added to it the lot adjoining it on the west, so that he owned the whole frontage of Harvard Square between Dunster and Boylston Streets. Mr. Boardman was early made steward of Harvard College and retained that office till his death in 1685. He was succeeded successively by his sons Andrew and Aaron, and by his grandson and great grandson, who bore the name of Andrew, making four generations of one family who thus served the College for a period covering a whole century. The second Andrew kept a store on Harvard Square, was for thirty-one years town clerk, for forty-six years town treasurer, and for eighteen years selectman. The third Andrew did not long retain the stewardship of the College, but he succeeded his father as town clerk, an office he held for thirty-nine years, and as town treas- urer, where he served twenty-three years. He was for twenty-two years the town's representative in the General Court, and for seventeen years a judge of the Court of Common Pleas.

If it is not difficult to reconstruct in imagination the outward appearance of Cambridge in the colonial period, neither is it hard to imagine the daily habit of the people. It was a life of steady hard work and of no little variety of employment. In the first place all the people worked at breaking and cultivating the land. The soil was not rich, but it was productive. The settler found that his patch of land would produce Indian com year after year in undiminished quantities. A patch of three acres worked chiefly with the hoe and manured with the small fish that abounded in the streams and creeks, would yield enough for the yearly maintenance of a famil}'. The Indian com was both hardy and nutritioiis and the planters soon reconciled themselves to it as a substitute for wheat, to which the soil and temperature were less propitious. The native grasses were coarse, but it took only a few seasons to cover the open lands with a growth of hay from imported seed. Barley, rye, oats and pease were successfully cultivated, and most of the garden fmits and vegetables common in the mother country. Squashes, pumpkins and beans were indigenous to the soil. The apple, the pear, the cherr>', the plum, and the quince were found to take kindly to their new home. Poiiltry and swine could be fed at little cost, and so multiplied in great abundance, and as pasturage was extended and improved, goats in the first place, and then sheep, horses and cattle became numerous. Between 1635 and 1640 cattle breeding was the most lucrative form of trade in Massachusetts, with the single exception of fishing. The increase of tillage caused a regular demand for oxen, and there was a brisk export trade in cattle with the West Indies. Sheep did not do so well, and the General Court, in 1654, found it necessary to forbid the exportation of sheep and the killing of lambs. There was abundant pasturage, and horse-breeding was profitable. It is impossible to discover just when wheel carriages began to be used, but the condition

The townspeople, as in most pioneer communities, were obliged to practice all trades. A citizen of Cambridge lived mainly upon the product of his land, but his house and most of his belongings were the work of his own hand. He was farmer, carpenter, blacksmith, shoemaker and trader, all in one. Cambridge was too far from the sea to have any large part in the chief industry of the Colony, - fishing, - but the bank of the river was a convenient place for ship-building, and several small vessels, "shallops" and "ketches," were early constructed and launched at the mouth of the creek.

There was very little currency in the Colony, and an early enactment of the General Court provided that com should be legal tender. Taxes were received in com, rated at six shillings a bushel. A certain amount of trade with the Indians gave a fictitious value to wampum and this was legal tender in Massachusetts for many ^-ears, up to the value of ten pounds. In 1652, Massachusetts established a mint of its own and coined silver in shilling, six pence and three pence pieces.

Manufactures of necessarj^ articles were early undertaken with some success. The spinning and knitting of thread and yam by the women at their homes was followed by the weaving of woolen and cotton fabrics, introduced by a few families who came from Yorkshire and built up a town at Rowley, adjoining Ipswich. The great demand for salt was promptly and profitably met, so easy was the process of obtaining it from sea-water. From the beginning of the settlements there was ample employment and good pay for the brickmaker, the mason, the carpenter, the tanner, the currier, the cordwainer, the sawyer and the smith.

The woods were a source of wealth. Boards, clapboards, shingles and staves and hoops for barrels, cost nothing but labor, and commanded a ready sale. The pine forests yielded turpentine, pitch and tar. Furs obtained from the Indians by barter for provisions and for articles of European manufacture, were yet another resource for the export trade.

In matters of dress the statute book shows that the magistrates tried to make the outward man conform to the serious purpose of the community. Seeking first the kingdom of God, they took to heart the injunction not to have much concern for the body what it should put on. They passed laws forbidding extremes of fashion and undue luxury in dress. They remonstrated against the superfluities which tended "to little use or benefit, but to the nourishment of pride and exhausting of men's estate and also of evil example to others." The dress of the majority of the people must needs have been plain, for the supply of homespun woollen cloth and "linen fustian dimities" was not abundant, and we read that use was commonly made of " cordovan, deer, seal and moose skins."

The necessity for keeping the flocks of sheep for wool, and of preserving cattle for draught and for milk, restricted the use of meat, and there is no record of a butcher's shop in Cambridge until well along in the century. Game and fish at first supplied, to a considerable extent, the want of animal food, and later chickens and pigs multiplied. In the earliest time, wheaten bread was not so uncommon as it afterwards became; but various preparations of Indian com soon came into use. Brown bread, a mixture of two parts of the meal of this grain with one part of rye, long continued to be the bread of the great body of the people. Hasty pudding, consisting of the boiled meal of this grain or of rye, and eaten with molasses and milk, was a common article of diet. Succotash, composed of beans boiled with Indian com in milk, was a dish adopted from the Indians, as were other preparations of com, named samp and hominy. Indian com meal, boiled or baked, and sweetened with molasses, as soon as molasses began to come from the West Indies, was Indian pudding in its primitive condition. The dish called baked beans commemorates the time when it was worth while to make the most of the commonest vegetable, by flavoring it with the flesh of the commonest animal. For considerabl)^ more than a century the people of Cambridge, ignorant of tea and coffee, lived chiefly on boiled Indian meal and milk, or on porridge or broth, made of pease or beans, and seasoned by being boiled with salted beef or pork. The regular dinner on Saturdays (not on Friday, which would have been Popish) was salt codfish. Beer, which was brewed in the household, was accounted scarcely less than a necessary of life, and the orchards soon yielded an ample provision of cider.

The interest of the New England people in education was a marked characteristic from the earliest days. Schools were at once set up in all the considerable towns, and in 1647, the law of Massachusetts required that a school should be supported in every town having fifty householders, and that a grammar school should be established where a boy could be fitted for Harvard College in every place where the householders numbered one hundred. At Cambridge the school was kept by Mr. Elijah Corlet. Our first notice of it is contained in the tract already quoted, "New England's First Emits," printed in England in 1643. There we read after the description of the College, that there is "by the side of the Colledge a faire Grammar Schoole, for the training up of j^oung scholars, and fitting of them for Academical Learning, that still as they are judged ripe, they may be received into the Colledge. Master Corlet is the Mr. who has very well approved himselfe for his abilities, dexterity and painfulnesse in teaching." The school-house stood on a lot opposite the college building, and on the westerly side of Holyoke Street. It was apparently built not by the town, but by the public spirit of President Dunster and Mr. Edward Goffe. This house lasted until 1669, when it was taken down and the foundation stones used for the cellar of the parsonage. The new school-house on the same lot served for thirty years more. Mr. Corlet, in spite of many difficulties and privations, persevered in his work for more than half a century until his death in 1678.

We have seen that the ministers exercised extraordinary influence in the Massachusetts communities. They were the leaders not only in the religious life of the community, but often in secular affairs as well. Many of them possessed some medical knowledge, and as there were but few trained physicians in the colonies, this was employed for the common good. There were practically no professional lawyers in Massachusetts, and the ministers were often consulted by the magistrates about the framing of the laws and the adjustment of disputes. They came also naturally to practically control the organization and management of the schools of ever\- grade. Yet the deference paid to them was self-respecting. The laymen understood their rights, and their constant participation in the proceedings of the town and church accustomed them to the exercise of an independent judgment. No charge is more baseless than that which represents early New England as "priest-ridden." On the contrary, a jealous public sentiment expressly excluded the ministers from political office, and kept the ultimate control both of the churches and of the state in the hands of the General Court. It was the General Court, and not the ministers, that banished Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson. It was the General Court, a body of laymen, that called the Cambridge Synod that gave definite written form to the church polity of New England.

The Cambridge ministers continued to be prominent in the Colony. Mr. Shepard died in August, 1649, when he was but forty-three years old. Almost a year passed between his death and the settlement of his successor. In the meantime, the town decided to build a new meeting-house. The old one had stood for less than twenty years, but it must have been hurriedly and poorly constructed, for already it was falling into decay ; besides, it had never been quite large enough for the congregation. Accordingly, five of the leading citizens, including Edward Goffe and Thomas Danforth, were appointed in March, 1650, a committee to build a new house, and alocation was selected on what was known as the Watch House Hill, which was a slight elevation on what is now the southwest comer of the college yard, where Dane Hall stands. The next year Jonathan Mitchell was ordained the second minister of the church. He was a graduate of the college in the class of 1647, and was, therefore, well known to the members of the community. He had begun his preaching at Hartford, and was invited to settle there as Hooker's successor, but upon receiving the invitation from Cambridge he declined the call to Hartford and was ordained at Cambridge, August 21st,

1 6.50. For eighteen years he served the congre - gation and by the testimony of his contemporaries was distinguished for learning and eloquence. Cotton Mather describes him as "the matchless Mitchell." Shortly after his coming to Cambridge he married Mrs. Shepard, the young widow of his predecessor, and went to live in the house which had sheltered both Hooker and Shepard.

The deplorable episode of President Dunster's heresy fell within the ministry of Mr. Mitchell. There is abundant testimony that President Dunster was faithful and judicious in the discharge of all his duties. He was held in high favor in the communit}'. His scholarship was of the best and his neighbors treated him with marked reverence. His theological opinions appear, however, to have undergone a gradual change. He came to feel that the practice of the baptism of children was not in accordance with the Scriptures. Accordingly he failed to present for baptism a child bom to him in 1653. The debates which arose over this stand have no interest for us today, but one cannot but admire the unflinching way in which Dunster stood by his opinions. A conference between Dunster and nine of the leading ministers produced no result and a resolution of the General Court advising the overseers of the College not to employ any who have "manifested themselves unsound in faith" led to Dunster's resignation, which, after being once rejected, was finall}- accepted on October 25, 1654. Dunster continued to occupy the President's house until the next spring and then removed to Scituate where he died four years later. He was buried in the Cambridge graveyard.

It required rare firmness and courage on the part of Mr. Mitchell when it became necessary for him as minister of the church to admonish his chief parishioner and the greatly-respected president of the college jfrom which he had recently graduated. It is also greatly to Mr. Mitchell's credit that he did this without losing President Dunster's friendship. Dunster made Mitchell one of the executors of his estate. It is a curious coincidence, if the suggestion of Dr. Palfrey, supported b}- Dr. Paige, the historian of Cambridge, is correct, and that the monument erected in honor of Dunster in

The next heretic in the Cambridge church was more troublesome than the gentle Dunster. The court record shows that on the 19th of June, 165(5, Benanuel Bower was admonished for absenting himself from the ordinance of baptism. This Bower, or Bowers, had married a cousin of President Dunster, and evidently shared Dunster's belief about infant baptism. He lived on the Menotomy Road, and later moved into what is now Somerville, but his relations continued with the Cambridge church and community. He became a Quaker and was called to account almost every year and subjected to fine and imprisonment for the absenting of himself and family from public worship, and for maintaining the obnoxious principles of the Quaker fraternity. In spite of persecution he remained stalwart in his independency and repeatedly petitioned the County Court and the General Court for relief. He gave vent to his indignation at his treatment not only by repeated remonstrances, but also in doggerel verses, and it was his practice as soon as he was released from imprisonment to interrupt the public worship of the Cambridge church and insist upon being permitted to describe his grievances. He was certainly a vigorous independent, and continued to be such until his death in 1698. His wife seems to have been tolerated during her old age, for there is a record of the court, dated December 26, 1693, which declares that Mrs. Bowers "being a Quaker took no oath." It is also suggestive of growing tolerance in the community that the three witnesses to Mr. Bowers' will were three Orthodox ministers.

Shortly after Mr. Mitchell's death in 1668, the town decided that the time had come to build a house for the minister at public expense. The selectmen and deacons and three others were, therefore, appointed a committee to build "a convenient house for the entertainment of the minister that the Lord may please to send us to make up the breach that an afflicting Providence hath made in this office." This new house, which was for many years tlje parsonage of the church, stood next to the house which the former ministers had occupied, that is, on the northerly side of Massachusetts

For three years the pulpit had no regular occupant, but was supplied for the most part by the distinguished clergyman who had succeeded Dunster in the presidency of the college. Charles Chauncy was inaugurated on November 29, 1654, and remained in office for seventeen years. He was a scholar of much renown. He had been successively professor of Hebrew and professor of Greek at the English Cambridge, and was profoundly learned in both classical and oriental languages. He had suffered much persecution in England, and, finally, deprived of his living, emigrated to Plymouth in the spring of 1638. Here he was heartily welcomed and employed as the associate minister of the Plymouth church. After three years there, he became minister of the church at Scituate and was there re-ordained to the ministry, indicating that his original Episcopal ordination was, in his judgment, invalid. During his stay at Scituate the Revolution in England had been completed and the people of the English parish which he had formerly served, holding him in affectionate remembrance, invited him to return and minister to them. He was just on the point of embarking when he was invited to accept the presidency of Harvard College.

In his service at Cambridge he fully sustained the reputation which led to his choice. He continued to be an indefatigable student. He is spoken of as having " conveyed all the liberal arts" to his pupils, and we have no record of any associate teacher. He "moderated their disputations and other exercises" in person, wittily, as Cotton Mather says. He gave his instruction, for the most part, in Latin. The Hebrew Scriptures were still read in the hall every morning, and the Greek in the evening, followed by a learned exposition by the president, who on Sunday mornings extended it to nearly twice the normal length of a modern sermon. He was greatly prized as a preacher, and justly so; for, as Mather tells us, "he was an exceeding plain preacher." The discipline and management of the College went on very much as in Dunster's time. Nor does there seem to have been any abatement of interest in the College on the part of the community, or any decline of the president's popularity and influence with his decUning years. The last class that graduated under him was the largest since the foundation; and though it numbered but eleven, those eleven probably bore a greater ratio to the population of the Colony than all the graduates of our colleges for the present year will bear to the population of the State.

Dr. Chauncy was succeeded in the presidency by Leonard Hoar, the first graduate of the College to assume this office. He had a brief and troubled experience, and was succeeded in 1675, by Urian Oakes, who was already the minister of the Cambridge church in succession to Mitchell. The pastorate of the church and the presidency of the college were thus united in one man. Mr. Oakes, after graduating at Harvard, had returned to England and was settled there, and the Cambridge church sent repeated invitations to him and waited three years for his coming. It is an^ evidence both of the importance of securing just the right minister and also of the comparative wealth of the community that the church was able to offer to Mr. Oakes a larger salary than most ministers of the time received, and to pay the entire cost of the transportation of his family from England. Like his predecessors, Mr. Oakes died when he was still comparatively a young man, his service terminating in 1681. The next year, Nathaniel Gookin became the minister and served for ten years. In 1680 the town reported one hundred and twenty-one families living within its boundaries, and a total of one hundred and sixty-nine citizens. This probably meant a total population of between six hundred and eight hundred.

The two leading laymen of Cambridge during the last half of the seventeenth century were Thomas Danforth and Daniel Gookin. Daniel Gookin apparently came to Cambridge about 1647, and lived at first on the easterly side of Holyoke Street between Harvard and Mt. Auburn Streets. Later he built the mansion, afterwards familiar as the Winthrop estate, on the southerly side of Arrow Street, which is still standing. He was at once prominent in the military service and was elected captain of the Cambridge train-band as early as 1652. In 1676 he became major of the Middlesex regiment and was very active throughout the troubles of King Philip's War. In IGSl, he was appointed major-general of all the military affairs of the Colony, and was the last who held that office under the old charter. For twelve years he was a selectman of Cambridge, repeatedly a representative in the General Court, and for thirty-three years an assistant. He was twice employed upon public service in England and was trusted by Oliver Cromwell as a confidential agent. It was upon his return from his last visit to England that he had for his fellow-passengers the two regicides, Goffe and Whalley, and they accompanied him to Cambridge. General Gookin stood side by side with Judge Danforth in the fight for the Massachusetts charter, and he is also to be remembered not only as the military commander who fought the hostile Indians in King Philip's War, but also as the dauntless friend of the so-called "praying Indians." He was John Eliot's chief helper, and for many years general superintendent of Indian affairs.

The whole history of the relation of the Cambridge people with the Indians is a creditable one. There were very few Indians in the neighborhood when the first settlers arrived. These were under the general control of the widow of the Chief Nanepashemet. She was known as the Squaw-sachem. The Cambridge and Watertown territory was purchased of this Squaw-sachem and Cambridge further agreed "to give the Squaw-sachem a coate every winter while she liveth." It was within the bounds of Cambridge that John Eliot began his famous mission among the Indians. He labored long and hard to acquire a competent knowledge of the Indian dialects, and began his difficult labors among them on October 28, 164:6, when he gathered some wandering Indians at the wigwam of Waban on the Nonantum hillside south of the river, in what is now the city of Newton. Thomas Shepard, the Cambridge minister, was one of Eliot's most active assistants in his missionary labors. In Shepard's tract entitled "The Clear Sunlight of the Gospel breaking forth upon the Indians in New England," which was printed in London in 1648, he said, "as soon as ever the fierceness of the winter was past, March 3, 1647, I went out to Nonantum to the Indian lecture where Mr. Wilson, Mr. Allen of Dedham, Mr. Dunster, besides many others were present." Eliot's great work, "The Translation of the Bible into the Indian Tongue," was the most important book issued from the Cambridge "Printery."

Provision was early made by the president and fellows of Harvard College for the education of the Indian youth. A modest building, known as the Indian College, was built to the north of the original college building, and several students were enrolled. Only one Indian name is, however, carried on the list of graduates of the College. In the list of the class of 1665, we read the name of "Caleb Cheeshahteaumuck, Indus."

In King Philip's War, the converted Indians, who had been gathered by Eliot into a village at Natick and other places, naturally fell under suspicion. They were removed to a safer residence on' one of the islands m Boston Harbor. General Gookin fell for a time into disfavor in the Colony because of his earnest and disinterested efforts to protect these unfortunate Indians. He even failed of election in 1676 as one of the Assistants, but next year the tide of feeling changed in his favor and he was re-instated in his former honors.

Gookin 's connection with the coming of the regicides to Cambridge is part of a romantic story. Edmund Whalley had been a distinguished soldier in Cromwell's army, one of the major-generals, and a member of Parliament. William Goffe was his son-in-law, also a member of Parliament, and a major-general of the Parliamentary army. Both of them were members of the court which condemned Charles I to death. When Charles II entered London in May, 1660, these two men fled from the vengeance which they knew was in store for them if they remained in England. They crossed the Atlantic with Daniel Gookin, and came with him to his house in Cambridge. They were proscribed fugitives, but they were welcomed to Cambridge with open and hearty hospitality. The high rank which they had sustained in the Puritan party in England, together with the dignity of their own manners, secured for them general respect. They went abroad freely, and were made welcome in the Cambridge meeting-house, as well as in the homes of the people. They remained in Cambridge until the 21st of February, 1661, when they privately went on their way to New Haven where they were kindly received. The pursuit of them later grew hot, and they went into retirement and concealment in the minister's house at Hadley. This friendly minister was John Russell, a Cambridge man and a Harvard graduate. In spite of the hospitable reception which the regicides in New England received, it should be remembered that all the New England colonies carefully abstained from any public approval or disapproval of events in the home country. The New Englanders doubtless approved the execution of Charles I, but they never gave formal expression to that approval. When the Puritan Parliament came into power in England, Massachusetts never formally admitted its authority, and even when Oliver Cromwell became protector, Massachusetts still remained silent. When Charles II was restored, no proclamation of that event was made in Boston for more than a year. These facts indicate the settled policy of the founders of New England to lay the foundations of what was practically an independent state.

Thomas Danforth was the most useful and prominent citizen of Cambridge in the second generation. He was the son of Nicholas Danforth who came to Cambridge as early as 1635 and built a house about where Massachusetts Avenue now runs. Beck Hall and the Baptist church now stand on the land that was part of the Danforth farm. This Nicholas Danforth was evidently a good citizen, for he was immediately elected a selectman and served for two years as a deputy of the General Court, and died in 1638. His son Thomas inherited the homestead, but sold it in 1642, and bought a house originally built by Rev. John Phillips, on the north side of Kirkland Street, near Oxford Street. His estate ultimately covered the whole territory, from the Somerville and Charlestown line to where the college library now stands. It included, that is, all the northeasterly part of the college yard and the land bordering on Oxford Street for its entire length. This property was after- wards well known as the Foxcroft estate. Mr. Danforth throughout his long life was a most energetic citizen of the town and of the Colony. He was for twenty-seven years a selectman of Cambridge, twenty-four years town clerk, twenty years a magistrate and assistant, and for nine years deputygovernor of the Colony. Except for the prolonged life of the venerable governor, Simon Bradstreet, he would certainly) have been governor. Later Mr. Danforth was a member of the Provincial Council and judge of the Supreme Court. He was one of the members of the governing board of the United Colonies from 1662 to 1678, and he was for nineteen years the treasurer at Harvard College. This extraordinary record of public service indicates the confidence of the community and attests the wisdom and integrity with which he despatched these varied public functions. He was probably the most active citizen of Massachusetts during the last half of the century, and he was

Honourable Samuel Sewall

Chief Justice of the Province of Massachusetts Bay. Born in 28. 1652. Came to New England in 1661. Member of the Council under tht Provincial charter. 1692-1725. One of the Assistants under the Colonial charter and ex officio a Judge of the Supreme Court. Appointed Judge of Superior Court in 1692. and Chief Justice in 1718. Chosen in 1699 one of the Commissioners ol the Society in England for the Propagation of the Gospel in New England. Sometime Resident Fellow, afterwards one of the Board of Overseers of Harvard College

The attacks upon the Massachusetts charter had been not infrequent from the earliest days. After the restoration of the Stuarts, there was constant efTort to deprive the New England Colonies of their liberties. In 1678 the Crown lawyers gave a legal opinion that the Charter of Massachusetts had been justly forfeited by the of?ences committed b y the colonial government under it. The authorities of the colonies, under the leadership of Thomas Danforth, of Cambridge, and Increase Mather, of Boston, did everything in their power, by petition and remonstrance, to ward off the catastrophe, but in 1684 the Charter was finally declared to be null and void, and soon after, a royal governor arrived to take over the control of what was no longer the Colony, but now the royal Province of Massachusetts Bay. With the loss of the Charter ends the colonial period of New England history.

The Village

AFTER the withdrawal of the Massachusetts charter a change came over the Ufe of the community. The new generation lacked something of the heroic impulses of the founders. The proportion of educated men and of natural leaders was not so high as in the first generation. Life was easier than in the colonial period, but it was more material. The village of Cambridge grew more comfortable to live in, and the houses were better built and better furnished. The prosperity of the community steadily increased, but the physical changes were few; the population remained nearly stationary for more than a hundred years, and plain living and steady toil were still the lot of the inhabitants. More and more the woods were cut off and the pasture land was broken by the plow, but the wildness of the region outside of the village itself may be judged by the fact that the town records show rewards paid for the killing of wild animals within the limits of the town almost down to the Revolution. In the one year 1690 there is a record of fifty-two wolves killed in Cambridge and six years later rewards were paid for the killing of seventytwo wolves. A bear was shot in what is now East Cambridge, as late as 1754.

The story of the first half of the eighteenth century, though it abounds in political and industrial interest, is still in its central elements a continued chapter of religious history. Its hopes and heroisms were still those of the religious life; its controversies and dissensions were still those of the theologians. Life was still measured in terms of moral rectitude and the subtle temptations of luxury and ease were far in the distance. The College and the Meeting-house remained the centers of Cambridge interest. Harvard College was founded for the specific purpose of training ministers, or, as the first appeal declared, "that the Commonwealth may be furnished with knowing and understanding men, and the churches with an able ministry." In the first list of college regulations - called, as now seems curious, "the liberties" of the College, - the first rules are these: "Every scholar shall consider the main end of his life and study to know God and Jesus Christ. Every one shall so exercise himself in reading the Scriptures twice a day, that they be ready to give an account of their proficiency. And all sophisters and bachelors shall publicly repeat sermons in the hall whenever they are called forth." The institution was founded by men in whom the sense of God was the controlling impulse, and to whom his glory was the end of education, and when the families of the Colony brought out of their poverty their offerings to the College, - the one of five shillings, and the other of a few sheep, and the other the fourth part of a bushel of com, or "something equivalent thereto," - it was not as an offering to culture, but as an offering to religion.

For more than two hundred years, in its disciphne and courses of study, the College followed mainly the lines traced by its founders. Its influence did more than any other, perhaps more than all others, to make New England what it is. During the one hundred and forty years preceding the War of Independence it supplied the schools of the greater part of New England with teachers. What was even more important, it sent to every parish in Massachusetts one man, - the minister, - with a certain amount of scholarship, a belief in culture, and a considerable collection of books, by no means wholly theological. "Simple and godly men were they," said Mr. Lowell in his oration at the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the College, "receiving much, sometimes all, of their scanty salary in kind, and eking it out by the drudgery of a crossgrained farm where the soil seems all backbone. They contrived to save enough to send their sons in turn through college, to portion their daughters, - decently trained in English literature of the more serious kind, and perfect in the duties of household and dairy, - and make modest provision for their widows, if they should leave any. With all this, they gave their two sermons every Sunday of the year, and of a measure that would seem ruinously liberal to these less stalwart days, when scarce ten parsons together could lift the stones of Diomed which they hurled at Satan with the easy precision of lifelong practice. Their one great holiday was the College Commencement, which they punctually attended. They shared the many toils and the rare festivals, the joys and the sorrows of their townsmen as bone of their bone and flesh of their flesh, for all were of one blood and of one faith. They dwelt on the same brotherly level with them as men, yet apart from and above them by their sacred office. Preaching the most terrible doctrines, as most of them did, they were humane and cheerful men, and when they came down from the pulpit seemed to have been merely twisting their 'cast-iron logic' of despair, as Coleridge said of Donne, 'into true-love-knots.' Men of authority, wise in counsel, independent (for their settlement was a life-tenure), they were living lessons of piety, industry, frugality, temperance, and, with the magistrates, were a recognized aristocracy. Surely, never was an aristocracy so simple, so harmless, so exemplary, and so fit to rule."

The original college building having fallen to pieces, a new Harvard Hall was built in 1682 on the site which is now occupied by the bmlding of the same name. That was the first year of the brief presidency of John Rogers. The experience of Mr. Rogers is a good illustration of the necessary frugality of the teachers and students of Harvard in the seventeenth century. It appears that young Rogers, remaining at the College as a resident graduate, had driven from the farm of his father - the minister of Ipswich - a cow, to serve by barter for the payment of his charges. The bursar's record debits him with two shillings for the pasturage of this cow before her appraisal for sale. It must have been a question whether the young man or the College should be at the expense of getting the animal into condition for the hungry students. Those years of severe training and meager nourishment must have been alike for mind and body of a highly educational character. It is no wonder that such of the Indian pupils as did not take to the woods died of consumption, or that the New England boys who weathered these experiences left their mark as men.

The record of a visit made to the College in July, 1680, by two wandering Dutchmen from Friesland gives another curious sidelight upon conditions. Jasper Dankers and Peter Sluyter, who were making a tour of the American colonies, made the following record in their diary for the date

"July 9th (1680), Tuesday. - We started out to go to Cambridge, lying to the N.E. of Boston, in order to see their college and printing-office. We left abt. six o'k in the morning, and were set across the river at Charlestown. . . . We reached Cambridge abt. 8 o'k. It is not a large village, and the houses stand very much apart. The college building is the most conspicuous among them. We went to it expecting to see something curious, as it is the only college or would-be academy of the Protestants in all America; but we found ourselves mistaken. In approaching the house, we neither heard nor saw anything mentionable ; but going to the other side of the building we heard noise enough in an upper room to lead my comrade to suppose they were engaged in disputation. We entered and went upstairs, where a person met us and requested us to walk in, which we did. We found there eight or ten young fellows sitting around smoking tobacco, with the smoke of which the room was so full that you could hardly see; and the whole house smelt so strong of it, that when I was going upstairs I said, 'This is certainly a tavern.' We excused ourselves that we could speak English only a little, but understood Dutch or French, which they did not. However, we spake as well as we could. We inquired how many professors there were, and they replied, not one; that there was no money to support one. We asked how many students there were. They said at first thirty, and then came down to twenty. I afterwards understood there are probably not ten. They could hardly speak a word of Latin, so that my comrade could not converse with them. They took us to the library, where there was nothing particular. We looked it over a little. They presented us with a glass of wine. This is all we ascertained there. The minister of the place goes there morning and evening to make prayer, and has charge over them. The students have tutors or masters. Our visit was soon over."

A new era for the College began in 1685 with the presidency of Increase Mather, a leader of very definite convictions and remarkable personal influence. He was the first of the presidents of the College who was born in America, and he was a striking illustration of the peculiar characteristics of the New England Puritans. He combined uprightness with shrewdness, wide learning with practical administrative ability, and spiritual intensity with business sense. For a generation his was the leading influence in church and state, and his biography is the history of the province during his time. He did not come to live in Cambridge, but continued as minister of the North Church in Boston. In 1688 he accepted a mission to England as one of the agents of Massachusetts which took him away from both church and college for several years. His masterful leadership was felt, however, in all the concerns of the College, while the specific work of instruction and government was carried on by the two tutors, John Leverett and William Brattle. The former of these later became president of the College and the latter was for twenty years minister of the Cambridge church. Mather was a student whose habit it was to spend sixteen hours a day in his library. As a preacher he was clear, attractive, practical and forcible, - sometimes rising to "such a Tonitruous Cogency that the Heavens would be struck with an Awe, like what would be produced on the Fall of Thunderbolts;" as an administrator so popular, that even in his old age "the Churches would not permit an Ordination to be carried on without him, so long as he was able to Travel in a Coach unto them." With all his multifarious labors as pastor, president and agent of the Province, he found time to publish books and pamphlets to the nimiber of one hundred and sixty; and, at the end of all, he was honored "with a greater Funeral than had ever been seen for any Divine

New buildings began to appear. In 1700 Governor William Stoughton built a residence for students. This stood at right angles with Harvard Hall at its eastern end, and a small regular quadrangle was formed when the Province in 1720 built Massachusetts Hall facing Harvard. Of these three buildings Massachusetts still stands, the oldest building in the College Yard. Harvard Hall was burnt in 1764, and its successor is the present building which bears the founder's name. The first Stoughton Hall was taken down in 1780, and later the present Stoughton Hall was built and preserves the name and memory of the original donor. A house for the occupancy of the President, the present Wadsworth House, was built at the rear of the meeting-house in 1726, and the gift of Madame Holden of London, and her children provided in 1744 for the chapel which now bears her name.

While the resources of the College were thus slowly upbuilt by the liberality of friends both in America and in England, yet the narrowness of its concerns may be illustrated by the following extract from the Records of the Corporation: "April 8, 1695. Voted, that six leather chairs be provided for the use of the Hbrary and six more before the Commencement, in case the treasury will allow of it." Another extract from the Records gives a curious sidelight upon college manners; "June 22, 1693. The Corporation having been informed that the custom taken up in the college, not used in any other universities, for the commencers to have plum cake is dishonorable to the college, not grateful to wise men, and chargeable to the parents of the commencers, do therefore put an end to that custom, and do hereby order that no commencer or other scholar shall have any such cakes in their studies or chambers and that if any scholar, shall offend therein the cake shall be taken from him and he shall, moreover, pay to the College twenty shillings for each such offense." It is hard to see why plum cake was so dangerous and disreputable, but the Records show that Commencement Day was increasingly becoming a time of public disorder. By the middle of the eighteenth century it had become neces- sary for the Corporation at Commencement time to procure the attendance of justices of the peace, a poHce guard by day and a watch by night for several days together.

The usefulness of the College in Mather's presidency is indicated by the record of the graduates of that period. One hundred and thirteen young men left the College to become the ministers of the New- England churches. Seven became judges of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts; three, judges of the Supreme Court of Connecticut, and two, of the Supreme Court of New Hampshire. Two governors and two lieutenantgovernors of provinces, one president of Yale and one president of Harvard arc also among the graduates of this time.

In 1701 the College came under the charge of Rev. Samuel Willard, who exercised the function of president under the title of vice-president. This was another way of getting around the requirement that the president should live in Cambridge. Dr. Willard was minister of the Old South Church in Boston and continued in his pastorate while in charge of the College. He was succeeded in 1707 by John Leverett, who had been connected with the College as student.

Harvard

"Midweek, Jany. 14, 170>^. Went to Cambridge in Mr. Brigg's Coach, with Col. Townsend, Mr. Bromfield, and Mr. Stoddard. Mr. Em. Hutchinson went in his own Charet, taking Mr. Wadsworth with him. Capt. Belcher carried Mr. Secretary in his Calash. Mr. Pemberton carried his Bror in his Slay over the Ice; Mr. Mico carried Mr. Treasurer Brattle. Mr. Colman there: Majr Genl Winthrop, Col. EHsha Hutchinson, Mr. Foster, Mr. Sergeant, Dr. Mather, Mr. Cotton Mather, Mr. Bridge, Mr. Allen not there. The d ay was \' c r y pleasant; Col. Philips, Mr. Russcl in his black cap, Col. Lynde met us fro m Charlestown; Mr. Bradstrect, Angler, there, Mr. Woodbridgc of Meadford, Mr. Neh. Hobart. In the Library the Go\-cnour found a Meeting of the Overseers of the College according to the old Charter of 1650, and reduced the Number [of the Corporation] to seven; viz. Mr. Leverett, President, Mr. Neh. Hobart, Mr. Wm. Brattle, Mr. Ebenczcr Pemberton, Mr. Henry Flint, ]\Ir. Jonathan Remington,

Fellows; Mr. Tho. Brattle, Treasurer. The Govr prepar'd a Latin Speech for Installment of the President. Then took the President by the hand and led him down into the Hall; The Books of the College Records, Charter Seal and Keys were laid upon a Table running parallel with that next the Entry. The Govr sat with his back against a Noble Fire; Mr. Russel on his Left Hand inermost, I on his Right Hand; President sat on the other side of the Table over against him. Mr. Neh. Hobart was called, and made an excellent Prayer; Then Joseph Sewall made a Latin Oration. Then the Govr read his Speech, and (as he told me) mov'd the Books in token of their delivery. Then President made a short Latin Speech, imparting the difficulties discouraging, and yet that he did Accept; Govr spake further, assuring him of the Assistance of the Overseers. Then Mr. jgdward Holyoke made a Latin Oration, standing where Joseph did at a Desk on the Table next th c- Entry at the inside of it, facing the Govr. Mr. Danforth of Dorchester pray'd. Mr. Paul Dudley read part of the 132 ps. in Tate and Bradey's version, Windsor Tune, clos'd with the Hymn to the Trinity. Had a very good Diner upon 3 or 4 Tables: Mr. Wadsworth crav'd a Blessing, Mr. Angier return'd Thanks. Got home very well. Laus Deo."

President Leverett was a man of science and a man of affairs. He had studied both law and theology. He had been Speaker of the House of Representatives, a member of the Council, a judge of probate, and finally a justice of the Supreme Court. He was one of the first persons in America to be chosen a member of the Royal Society in England. We have no means of judging directly of his attainments for he left no written works behind him, but we may justly estimate by the respect and affection which he inspired among his contemporaries. Mr. Pierce said of him; " He had a great and generous soul. His attainments were profound and extensive. He was well acquainted with the learned languages, with the arts and sciences, with history, philosophy, law, divinity and politics. He possessed all the attractions which are conferred by the Graces, being from the sphere in which he always moved a gentlemen as well as a scholar and a man of business." Under President Leverett the number of undergraduates rapidly increased, and in the twenty-two years of his presidency more young men were graduated at the College than in all the years before. Not quite half of these graduates became ministers.

The chief event of this period was the establishment of two professorships, one in divinity and the other in mathematics. These were the gift of Thomas HoUis, a London merchant who partly for the love of civil and religious liberty and partly through his acquaintance in London with Increase Mather, made the College the chief recipient of his bounty. Hollis's gifts began in 1719. His children inherited his interest and continued his benefactions. It is a curious fact that HoUis was a Baptist, yet he was of so liberal a spirit as to found a theological professorship without any sectarian bias. Besides his own large donations HoUis frequently obtained for the College the assistance of his friends and family. In May, 1724, President Leverett suddenly died. It was an important and difficult matter to find a successor. It is not strange that Cotton Mather desired and expected the office and it is not surprising that he was passedover in the choice. Rev. Joseph Sewall was elected; chosen for his piety, Mr. Mather wrote. The Old South Church was unwilling to give him up, and he declined the office. The Rev. Benjamin Colman, of the Brattle Street Church, was then chosen, and the friends of the College sought to secure from the General Court a fitting salary for the president, and one which could be depended upon. The effort failed, and Mr. Colman declined the office. Several months passed before another election was made, when the Rev. Benjamin Wadsworth, of the First Church, was chosen. He declared his reluctance to accept the office, and his preference to remain with his church. His church finally consented that he should accept the call to the new position, if he judged it to be his duty. He consented to be made the president of the College, and the General Court granted him one hundred and fifty pounds "to enable him to enter upon and manage the great affair of that presidency, and a committee was appointed to look out a suitable house for the reception of the President," and to inquire into the financial condition of the College.

Wadsworth in his diary describes his inauguration, which occurred on Commencement Day morning (July 7, 1725) in the meeting-house, as follows :

"The Walk or Procession from ye college to ye meeting House was as had been usual, viz. The Bachelours of Art went first, two in a rank; and then ye Masters, all bare-headed; then I followed, walking single as President; next the Corporation and Tutors two in a rank, then the Honble Lieutenant Govemour Dummer & Council, next to them ye rest of ye Gentlemen. When in ye meeting House, I entered a Pew with ye Lieutenant Govemour and several of ye Council. The Revnd Mr. Benja. Colman went into ye Pulpit and began with prayer. Then ye Lieutenant Govemour Installed me in ye Presidents office (ye college Keys, Seal, Records lying on a Table in ye Pew) He said to me:

" 'You being duly elected & approved to be ye President of Harvard College, I do accordingly in ye name of ye overseers, invest you with ye Government thereof, in ye same extent as any [of] your Precessors Presidents of Harvard College have been heretofore vested ; and delivered to you ye Keys, with these Books & Papers as Badges of your Authority, confiding that you will govern the Societies with Loyalty to our Sovereign Lord King George and obedient to his laws, and according to ye Statutes & Rules of ye said College.'

" Hereupon, before I left the Pew I answered memoriter in English. I then entered the pulpit and having pronounced (without any Reading, or notes) my oration in Latin; I then called for ye Salutatory oration. Sir Brown made it. That being ended ye Batchelours disputed on one question, and I then gave them their degrees at ye end of ye forenoon, exercises: wch being finished, we returned to College as was usual."

Dr. Wadswort hserved for twelve years, and then came Edward Holyoke, the minister of Marblehead. Dr. Holyoke had graduated in 1705, and had been tutor, librarian, and fellow in the college. His theological convictions were apparently more tolerant or at least less aggressive than those of some of his predecessors. To the inquiry' of Governor Belcher, Mr. Holj'oke's neighbor, the Rev. John Barnard, answered: "I think Mr. Holyoke as orthodox a Calvinist as any man; though I look upon him as too much of a gentleman, and of too catholic a temper, to cram his principles down another man's throat." "Then I believe he must be the man," repUed the Governor. He was inaugurated September 28, 1737. The General Court agreed to pay to the Society which had thus given up its pastor one hundred and forty pounds, "to encourage and facilitate the settlement of a minister there." With Holyoke served a group of remarkable men. His own term of service covered thirty-two years. Edward Wigglesworth, the first HoUis professor of divinity, served for forty-four 3-ears, a learned, sagacious and gentle scholar, whose literary taste was of the highest order and whose theolog}' was for his day extraordinarily liberal. John Winthrop was for forty-one years the Hollis professor of mathematics, and sustained the highest reputation for scientific attainment. He was also distinguished as a faithful public servant and maintained his family tradition of leadership in the com- munity. With these gentlemen, as tutor, Henry Flynt served for fifty-five years. It is noticeable that all four of these teachers acted together for seventeen years, and three of them for twenty-seven years. It was during this period that the men who afterwards reflected the greatest distinction upon the College were educated there. Samuel Adams, John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Jonathan Trumbull, Timothy Pickering, Joseph Warren, Artemas Ward, James Otis, Josiah Quincy and William Eustis were not inconspicuous in the patriot councils of their generation, and all of them were graduates of the institution which General Gage afterwards denounced as "the nest of sedition." Here the patriot leaders were nurtured; here they read of freedom and chivalry; here, in their impressible youth, they breathed together the spirit of liberty which characterized the place and the time.

The burning of Harvard Hall in the winter of 1764, with the consequent loss of the library and all the scientific apparatus, was an event of signal importance alike for the College and the community. We are fortunate in having a graphic contemporaneous account of this event. The following letter, referring to the completion and dedication of Hollis Hall and to the disastrous fire, was written by Margaret Holyoke, the daughter of President Holyoke. She was the wife of John Mascarene who had been for some time in England on business.

"Cambridge, Jan. 30th, 1764. "To Mr. John Mascarene, London: "My Dearest, No. 74, my last to you, was by Bioll, and Keating, the latter of which I can't yet learn whether it sailed or not, in those letters I answered all yours by Hatch, Hooper, Jarvis, and Dixey, and enclosed agreeable to your Desire Arms, Invoice, Inventory, memorandums, Patterns, measures, &c. &c., all of which I hope will get safe to hand, for I think I would not have the pester of such another collection for a good deal. . . .

"And now my Dear I shall begin with your matter of fact writing. First then our Friends ate all well, our new College is Finished, and a Beautiful Btiilding. The thirteenth of this month the General Court were invited to dine at College, at which time it was called Hollis Hall, in gratitude to the late and present worthy gentleman of that name. Since that time the Small Pox has been in Boston in 20 familys which has drove a third almost of the people out of Boston, and the General Court adjourned to the College, the Council to the Library, and the house to the Hall where they have met for the dispatch of Public Business till last Wednesday, for on Tuesday night about 12 o'clock, in the severest snow storm I ever remember I heard the cry of Fire, one moment brought me to the window, when (I) saw the old Harvard College on fire, and it was with the utmost difficulty they savd the other Buildings. Stoughton was on fire an Hour, Massachusetts catchd in three places, and Hollis Hall is burnt much, at the Southwest comer. There was nothing savd in old College, except a bed or two. The whole Library, except some Books lent out and Mr. Hollis's last donation, were demolished, the whole apparatus. Mr. Hancock who lodged out, on account of the storm lost everything except the cloths he had on, this is a most terrible accident, this Library in which were so many valuable Books, ancient manuscripts, the Labour of the Learned, and the work of ages, in a few hours turned to ashes. Our College is now poorer than any on the Continent - we are all real mourners on this occasion and I doubt not your attachment to alma mater, will make you feel sorrowful upon this conflagration. As to Father he had very near lost his life on the occasion, the snow was in drifts in many places four and five feet high, papa went thro it all with nothing more upon him than he sits in the house, the President's house was in great danger the wind was strong at N west the latter part of the time, and in short if Stoughton had gone all the houses in town to the Eastward of the College would have gone. I think I never saw so great a strife of elements before, it is supposed the Fire began in the Beam under the hearth of the Library, the Gov'r & a great number of the court assisted in extinguishing the Fire, it being vacation and no person in the college, the Fire was past stopping in Harvard before it was perceived. I hope the K - g will give something to repair the loss as he has never done anything for this College yet, and my Dear (tho I wotild not dictate to you) I believe if you was to try among your acquaintances for some donations by way of Books, or mathematical instruments, it will be very acceptable. Mr. Winthrop thinks that 3 Hd pd sterl'g would buy a compleat apparatus, and there are Books which are of no great act in a private gentleman's Library-, which are ornamental and useful to an ancient and Public one. Cahill is generous, and loves show. Suppose you was to ask him - if he gives anything worth while, he will have the Public thanks of the College, and his name will be enrolled among the worthy Benefactors to this Seminary, and will live when the Buildings themselves are crumbled into Dust, but I need say no more, I know you will want no stimulus in this affair, our Country men at the Coffee house I doubt not if properly applied to, would subscribe something Hansome. Any wealthy lady that is minded to make her Fame immortal cant have a more favorable opportunity, thus my Dear, I have given you as good an account as I can of this terrible afair which would have been nothing hardly if the Library and apparatus had been saved. If I can get a paper wherein the account is ile sent it to you - and now partly to soften your grief and alleviate your sorrow, lie tell you the proceeding of our worthy Court the next Day. The First vote that past was for rebuilding the College at the expence of the province Imediately, and two thousand lawful voted to begin with, and a sum to Mr. Hancock to repair his loss which with what of money Plate &c they have fotmd in the Ruins, I hope will make his loss light, £10 lawful apiece to those scholars who lost their Furniture, and £40 lawful to the Buttler, all which is thot very handsome. 2 days after this they chose the Lieut Govr agent for this province to the Court of Great Britain, and it is said that he and his son Tom, and Couz Rogers, embarks in the spring, and I prophesy Forster will be made Judge Probate, if so Libera nos Domine. I had forgot when I told of the chrisning Hollis Hall that young Joe Taylor, the Capt Stone, a junior sophister, delivered a very handsome English oration before the whole Legislative Body, in Holden Chappel. Now to come home again my

Brother lost their little Polly the eldest child about three weeks ago, and good Deacon Whipple departed this life last week, - and Johnny Appleton has got the Small Pox at Salem. But we hear he has it very lightly, it is not yet determined whether the Small Pox will spread, they take the utmost care to prevent it - Mr. Flucker and wife are at papas till it is over and there is a number of others in town on the same account so that our little Cambridge looks quite alive, tho at this dead season of the year, and vacation into the Bargain. . . .

"I was much disappointed of making a visit to Boston. I intended to have spent a fortnight of this vacation with Mrs. Newall, who is continually urging me to come there. I thot to go to Capt. Handfields, and enquire about Adlam, who I think has not behavd like a man of Honor, tho he wers a Sword - Mr. Whitefield is on his journey here, from whom some Persons expect much - I have begd last Monday's paper of Mr. Flucker, which I shall enclose as this ship goes directly for London. You will find an inventory as near as they could remember, of the library and apparatus, to the end that those who are minded to give may know what - the College Bell is also gone. The vacation is lengthened out to I don't know what time. I am surprized you mention nothing of the national Ferment, which by an article in this paper, seems to be very great. I hope my Dear by this time your afTair is Finished, and to your satisfaction, if not, I firmly believe it never will, without you give up part to get the rest. Procrastination if the thief of time, year after year it steals, and leaves of life but little to enjoy. Alas how great a part of our short span since love and honor joined our Souls and Hands have wee been separated. Time, and distance, those foes to love upon earth, still keep between us and prevent our meetting, make haste old time and shake your heavy sands and bring the happy hour that makes us truly blest. Thou Ocean gently waft him over in safety to his native land and after all the toil and vexation of attending the great may he sit down in quiet and enjoy his Family and Friends. Here rest his little bark nor e'er by Poverty or dire Misfortune be thrown out to sea again may he exhibit a bright example of every virtue, and be a pleasure to his Fri ends, and diffuse happiness as far as his Influence extends. . . .

"I believe you are tired so I shall conclude, with love from all friends, and my regards to Mr. James Fireside, and am with the truest afTection and esteem ever yours,

As this letter shows, the disaster proved a blessing in disguise. The loss roused the generous zeal of the friends of the College. The General Court restored the building - erecting the present Harvard Hall on the old site, and numerous benefactors endeavored to make good the loss of books and instruments. After Dr. Holyoke's death Rev. Samuel Locke of Sherbom had a brief and troubled presidency, and was succeeded in 1744 by Dr. Samuel Langdon of Portsmouth, N.H., who had been but six months in office when the storm of revolutionary war broke upon the community.

The story of the Cambridge Church runs parallel to that of the College, and the threads are often interwoven. The fifth minister of the Church was William Brattle, who was born in Boston in 1662, and graduated at Harvard in 1680. He served as tutor and Fellow of the College for many years and supplied the pulpit of the church occasionally after Mr. Gookin's death. From the time of his pastorate a regular church record was made, whic h has been preserved in good condition. At the beginning of this record, Mr. Brattle says he "succeeded the Rev. Nathaniel Gookin, and was ordained a minister of Jesus Christ and a pastor to the flock at Cambridge, Nov. 25, 1696, per the Rev. Mr. Inc. Mather. The Rev. Mr. Morton, Mr. Allin, and Mr. Willard laid on hands. The Rev. Mr. Sam. Willard gave the right hand of fellowship. . . . Deo sit ghria. Amen."

The connection of Mr. Brattle with the church for more than twenty years was peaceful and prosperous. He continued to teach in the College. After the death of his brother, Thomas Brattle, he acted as Treasurer of the College for about two years. His scholarship was recognized by his election to the Roj^al

Society, - an honor conferred on very few Americans. After "a languishing distemper which he bore with great patience and resignation," he "died with peace and an extraordinary serenity of mind," Febuary 15, 1716- 17, in the fifty-fifth year of his age. Mr. Brattle's son, William Brattle, Jr., was a conspicuous leader in Cambridge for fifty years. He graduated at the College in 1722 and, married the daughter of Governor Gordon Saltonstall. He built the house at the eastern end of Brattle Street which, with its gardens running down to the river at the back, made the handsomest estate in the town. General Brattle was selectman for twenty-one years, representative for ten years, councillor for seventeen years, and major-general of the Provincial militia. In his old age he adhered to the Tory party, and died in exile in 1776.

It was during Mr. Brattle's pastorate that the meeting-house which had stood somewhat more than fifty years, became dilapidated and the town voted on July 12, 1703, that it was " necessary at this time to proceed to the building of a new meeting-house, and in order thereunto, there was then chosen Capt. Andrew Belcher, Esq., Thomas Brattle, Esq., John Leverett, Esq., Col. Francis Foxcroft, Esq., Deacon Walter Hastings, Capt. Thomas Oliver, and Mr. William Russell, a committee to advise and consider of the model and charge of building said meeting-house, and to make report of the same to said inhabitants." On December 6, 1705, it was further "voted that the sum of two hundred and eighty pounds be levied on said inhabitants, toward the building of a new meeting-house amongst them." On the 28th of September, 1703, the College granted sixty pounds "out of the College Treasury towards the building a new meeting-house;" and, August 6, 1706, "voted that Mr. Leverett with the Treasurer take care for the building of a pew for the President's family in the meeting-house now a building, and about the students' seats in the said meeting-house; the charge of the pew to be defrayed out of the College Treasury." This third house stood on or very near the spot occupied by the second, and seems to have been opened for public worship on October 13, 1706.

expect to find a graveyard situated near the meeting-house; but in Cambridge there was no such connection. The enclosure at the comer of Massachusetts Avenue and Garden Street, if not the first burial ground, was certainly used very nearly for that purpose. In the Town Records of January 4, 1635-6, we read that it was "ordered that the buryingplace shall be paled in." This continued to be the only public place of burial in Cambridge for many years; and in spite of the fence it seems not to have been very carefully guarded. As late as the year 1702 the graveyard was leased as a pasture for sheep, as appears from the following record;

"At a meeting of the selectmen, 10th March, 1700-1, Lieut. Aaron Boardman requesting that he might have the improvement of the Burying-yard (to keep sheep in), the selectmen did consent that he should have the improvement of said yard (for the use above mentioned) for one year next ensuing, provided he would cut the gate of said yard asunder, and hang the same with suitable hooks and hinges, also fix a stub-post in the ground, and a rail from post to post cross the gates, for them to shut against ; all to be done in good workmanlike order; which the said Boardman promised to do."

The funeral customs were as simple as the graveyard. When a Cambridge man came to be buried he went to his grave with the same simple solemnity which had marked his life. He had sought in his thought and habit an uncompromising reality and he wanted nothing else at death. Lechford's account of the funeral customs fits in brevity and dignity the occasion which it describes: "At burials nothing is read, nor any funeral sermon made; but all the neighborhood, or a good company of them, come together by tolling of the bell, and carry the dead solemnly to his grave and there stand by him while he is buried."

One hundred years after the burial-place was ordered to be " paled in," the town directed it to be enclosed by a substantial stone wall in place of the pales and wooden fence; and it will be seen that the College, having a common interest in the spot, contributed one sixth part of the expense of the work. This is shown from their record of the President and Fellows, under the date of October 20, 1735:

"Whereas, there is a good stone wall erected and erecting round the burj'ing-place in Cambridge, which will come to about £150; and whereas, there has been a considerable regard had to the College in building so good and handsome a wall in the front; and the College has used, and expects to make use of the burying-place as Providence gives occasion it; therefore, voted, that as soon as the said stone wall shall be completed, the treasurer pay the sum of twenty-five pounds to Samuel Danforth, William Brattle, and Andrew Boardman, Esq., a committee for the town to take care of the said fence."

In this graveyard lie the early presidents of the College, Dunster, Chauncy, Oakes, Leverett, Wadsworth, Holyoke, Willard and Webber; the ministers, Shepard, Mitchell, Gookin, Brattle and Appleton; the early settlers, Roger Harlakenden, Stephen Day, Elijah Corlett; and the later generations, Danforths, Gookins, Boardmans, Belchers, Lees, Danas and many more.

Immediately after the death of Mr. Brattle a meeting of the church was held to consider the calling of a new minister, and its proceedings were minutely recorded by President Leverett, in his Diary, which is in the College Library. As this meeting resulted in the settlement of a pastor who served the church for nearly sixtyseven years, almost as long as the combined ministry of his five predecessors, this record is worthy of preservation; "Friday, April the 19th, 1717. At a meeting of the Church of Christ in Cambridge. 1. The President being desired by the deacons and brethren opened the meeting with prayer. 2. The deacons proposed that a moderator might be chosen for the ordering and directing the meeting. 3. Voted, that the President be moderator of this meeting. He submitted to the vote of the brethren of the Church, and, opening the design and intention of the meeting, earnestly desired that every body would freely discover their minds and declare what measures they thought proper, and what steps they would take in order to a settlement of the ministry in this place. After a due time of silence Mr. Justice Remington expressed himself, that the nomination of some suitable persons seemed to be the first step to be taken. Some others spake to the same effect. No opposition being expressed, a vote was called and it was voted. 4. Voted, that the brethren express their minds as to nomination in writing, and the three persons that shall have the most votes shall be the persons nominated, out of which an election shall be made of one, in order to be settled in the pastoral office in this church. Pursuant to this vote, the brethren were desired by the moderators to write and bring in their votes, which they did; and upon the view, numbering and declaring the vote, Mr. Henry Flint, Mr. Jabez Fitch, and Mr. Nathaniel Appleton were the three persons agreed to be nominated, out of which the brethren should proceed to an election. Accordingly the moderator desired the brethren of the Church to bring in their votes for the choice of a person to settle in the ministry in this place, viz. one of three before nominated persons. Pursuant hereto the church brought in their votes in writing. 5. Upon sorting and numbering the votes, Mr. Nathaniel Appleton was by the church elected to the work of the ministrj^, in order to the taking upon him the pastoral office as God shall open the way thereunto. This was by a great majority; the votes for Mr. Appleton being ;38, and the votes for Mr. Flint but 8. The moderator declared to the church their election of Mr. Appleton as aforesaid. 6. It was proposed that those that had not voted for Mr. Appleton in writing might have the opportunity to manifest their satisfaction with the vote that had passed, that the brethren would manifest that they chose him as aforesaid by lifting up their hands, which was complied with, and it is said that there were but two that had acted in the foregoing votes that did not hold up their hands."

After appointing a committee to ask the concurrence of the town with the church in their choice, "the moderator concluded the meeting with returning thanks to God for the peaceable and comfortable management of the affairs of the church. Laus Deo." The town concurred, and Mr. Appleton was ordained October 9, 1717. Dr. Increase Mather preached and gave the charge; Dr. Cotton Mather gave the right hand of Fellowship ; and they, together with Rev. Messrs. John Rogers,

The Parsonage built in 1(170 had now become dilapidated, and the town voted, August 1, , 1718, "that the sum of two hundred and fifty i pounds be granted for the building a new i Parsonage-house, provided the sum of one ] hundred and thirty pounds of the said money | be procured by the sale of town, propriety', or ministry lands in said town, as may be thought most proper to be disposed of for said use." The records do not distinctly indicate whether the Parsonage was wholly or only partly rebuilt, but apparently only the front was changed, for Dr. Holmes, writing in 1800, says, "All the ministers, since Mr. Mitchell, have resided at the Parsonage. The front part of the present house was built in 1720."

The chief event of Dr. Appleton's long pastorate before the stirring days of the Revolution was the excitement caused by the religious revival which followed the coming of the Rev. George Whitefield. The extraordinary preaching gifts of this young exhorter produced a remarkable effect upon the minds and hearts of the outwardly decorous but inwardly emotional New Englanders. At the beginning the excitement was deemed inspiration; and it was not until the first fever had passed off, that it was discovered that the revival was not always followed by hallowing influences. There was no suspicion, however, in the beginning, of the want of genuineness in any of the numerous conversions; and the Overseers of the College even passed a vote, "earnestly recommending it to the President, Tutors, Professors, and Instructors, by personal application to the students under impressions of a religious nature, and by all other means, to encourage and promote this good work." No wonder that Whitefield, who was only twenty-six years old at the time of his first visit, should have come to think himself a divine instrument, and should have sincerely believed that he spake as he was moved by the Holy Ghost. His denunciations of the colleges and the churches were altogether more violent than the facts warranted. "As to the Universities," he said, " I believe it may be said that their light has become darkness - darkness that may be felt, and is complained of by the most godly ministers." "Tutors neglect to pray with and examine the hearts of their pupils. DiscipHne IS at too low an ebb." "Tillotson and Clarke are read, instead of Shepard and Stoddard, and such like evangelical writers."

The faculty of the College joined in a protest against Whitefield's reckless statements, denying their truth, and exposing their want of evidence, and their "uncharitable," "censorious," and "slanderous" character. Whitefield replied, and Dr. Wigglesworth, the Hollis Professor of Divinity, responded to his pamphlet by another, in which he wrote with a degree of severity to which his gentle nature could have been roused only by extreme provocation.

President Holyoke also entered the lists in defence of the College, and added an appendix to Dr. Wigglesworth' s pamphlet, which closed a controversy that exhibited the ability with which the affairs of the College were managed. If there were really any design of " discouraging benefactors, injuring the seminary in estate as well as name, and preventing pious parents from sending their children to us for education, ' ' the attempt failed in the most satisfactory manner.

Dr. Appleton and the people of the Cambridge Church shared the feelings of their neighbors. In the Boston Evening Post, of January 7, 1745, we read the following record of a gathering held at "Cambridge, Jan. 1, 1744-5. At a meeting of the Association of this and the neighboring towns, present, the Reverend Messieurs John Hancock of Lexington, WilHam Williams of Weston, John Cotton of Newton, Nath. Appleton of Cambridge, Warham Williams of Waltham, Seth Storer of Watertown, Eben. Turell of Medford, Nicholas Bowes of Bedford, Samuel Cook of Cambridge. The Rev. Mr. Appleton having applied to his brethren of said association for our advice, relating to a request which hath been made to him by a number of his church and congregation, that he would invite the Rev. Mr. George White field to preach in Cambridge; after supplications to God and mature consideration of the case proposed, and the several pleas made in favor of said request, and the state of the town, as also the many weighty objections which lie against the said Mr. Whitefield, with respect to his principles, expressions, and conduct, which are not yet answered, nor has any Christian satisfaction been given by him for them; considering also how much the order, peace and edification of the churches of this land are endangered, together with the unhappy, divided state of many of them; It was unanimously voted, that it was not advisable, under the present situation of things, that the Rev. Mr. Appleton should invite the Rev. Mr. Whitefield to preach in Cambridge. And they accordingly declared, each of them for themselves respectively, that they would not invite the said gentleman into their pulpits. The above advice was signed by each member of the association."

Another article relative to the same subject appeared in the Boston Weekly News Letter, of June 27, 1745: "Whereas it is reported in the Gazette or Journal of this week, that the Rev. Mr. Whitefield preached last Saturday at Cambridge, to prevent misapprehension and some ill consequences which may arise from thence, you are desired to give your readers notice that he preached on the Common and not in the Pulpit; and that he did it, not only without the consent, but contrary to the mind, of the Rev. Mr. Appleton the minister of the place."

It should be added that Whitefield himself came to a better understanding as he grew older. At the time of his later visit he said ; "I certainly did drop some unguarded expressions in the heat of less experienced youth, and was too precipitate in hearkening to and pubUshing private information." He assured the faculty of the College of his "sorrow that he had published private informations ... to the world." Twenty years later, after the College library had been burned, he gave to the College his "Journal and a collection of books; and also by his influence he procured a large number of valuable books from several parts of Great Britain."

In 1753 the Parish resolved to again build a new meeting-house, and this purpose was encouraged by the President and Fellows of the College who voted to pay "one seventh part of the charge of said house," provided the students should have the use of the whole front gallery, and "at least the third or fourth pew as to the choice" be set apart for "the President for the time being and his family." The erection of the house was delayed about three years. It was raised on November 17, 1756, and public worship was first held in it on July 24, 1757. In this building all the College commencements and inaugurations, during more than seventy years, were celebrated; and no building in Massachusetts could compare with it in the number of distinguished men who at different times were assembled within its walls. The first and second Provincial Congresses, under the presidencies of Joseph Warren and John Hancock, met there. Washington worshiped there during the siege of Boston. In 1779, the delegates from the towns of Massachusetts there met and framed the Constitution of the Commonwealth, which the people of that state ratified in 1780. There Lafayette, on his triumphal visit to the United States, in 1824, was eloquently welcomed.

This fourth meeting-house, which housed the congregation until 1833, was the center of the village. It stood on the site of the two former houses, very nearly where Dane Hall now stands, opposite the head of Dunster Street. At the western end a substantial tower, springing from the ground and projecting from the main building, was surmounted by a belfry and a graceful spire capped with the customary gilt weathercock. The principal entrance was on the south, facing the pulpit. The house was nearly square and galleries ran around three sides. The eastern gallery was allotted to the students and teachers of the College; the west gallery was free; that on the south was occupied by the choir. The ground floor was divided into square pews, having seats which could be raised on hinges to afTord standing-room dtiring prayer. When the prayer ended they were let down with a slam which marked with portentous emphasis that stage in the services. Organ there was none ; the music was supplied by a redoubtable bass-viol, supplemented by some wind instruments and a volunteer choir.

all the chief inhabitants of Cambridge in 1755. The largest subscriber was Lieutenant-Governor Phips who gave 40 pds. President Holyoke, Professor John Winthrop, General William Brattle, Judge Edmund Trowbridge, Colonel Henry Vassall, and Deacon Jonathan Hastings gave 20 pds. or more. Andrew Boardman, Francis Foxcroft, Ebenezer Bradish, Samuel Danforth, Richard Gardner, Ebenezer Stedman, Professor Edward Wigglesworth, Dr. Appleton, and Richard Dana were among the larger givers; and there also appear on the list the representatives of such reliable Cambridge family stocks as Wyeth, Warland, Hicks, Whittemore, Read, Prentice, Tufts, Thatcher, Angler, Kidder, Morse, Richardson and Sparhawk.