Medford City (part 8 of 14)

For many years the inhabitants of Medford employed the physicians of the neighboring towns ; and there was small need of medicine where all had simple diet, fresh air, and moderate labor. As early as 1720, two doctors appear in the town records, - Dr. Oliver Noyce and Dr. Ebenezer Nutting. The first died in 1721 ; and the second is not found in the records but a year or two afterwards. Of these two practitioners, not being graduates, nothing has been discovered concerning them.

Dr. Simon Tufts, son of Peter, born in Medford, Jan. 31 ; 1700, died here, Jan. 31, 1747. He graduated at Harvard College in 1724. He pursued his medical studies under all the advantages which nearness to Boston could give, and became distinguished in his profession. He is called doctor in the town records, May, 1724. Tne college at that time had not commenced the giving of medical degrees. He is called « the first physician of Medford." During a short residence with his townsman and relative, Rev. John lufts, at Newbury, he connected himself with the church there and was recommended by that church to the one in Medford, May,

To show how much he labored, how well he succeeded, and how truly he was loved, we quote here the following brief and discriminating notice of him which appeared in the public papers immediately after his death : -

" Medford, Feb. 5, 1747. "On the 31st of January, died here, of a convulsive asthma, and this day was decently buried, Simon Tufts, Esq., having just completed his forty-seventh year. He was a gentleman well descended and liberally educated. He was the youngest son of Captain reter Tufts, of this town, by his second wife, who was daughter ot the Rev Seaborn Cotton, of Hampton. He took his degrees at Harvard College in the years 1724 and 1727. He early appied himself to the study of physic, and soon became eminent in that profession He was honored with three commissions, - one for the peace, in th year 1733; another for a special justice in 1741 ; and a third fo justice of the quorum, 1743 ; and was very faithful and useful in the offices. He was a man of substantial religion, and exhibited the virtues of the Christian in all relations, stations, and conditions. 1 n< removal of such an excellent person (in these degenerate times, calls for lamentation and supplication. Psalm xn. 1 : Help, -Loui for the godly man ceaseth ; for the faithful fail from among th« children of men.' He has left a sorrowful widow, and seven chil dren) - four sons, and three daughters."

Dr. John Thomas was a medical student under his care, and, at the commencement of the Revolution, commanded at Dorchester Heights, and afterwards at Ticonderoga, where he died of the smallpox.

" Death seized, and snatched my tender father hence, To live enthroned in happiness immense. Religion, grace, and truth possessed his soul ; And heaven-born love he breathed from pole to pole. His grateful country owned his signal worth, And gave him public life in civil birth. A friend to all mankind ; true to every cause, Where bound by virtue or his country's laws. Sweet peace he loved, and peace he oft prolonged When jarring parties wished themselves revenged. To vice, the wretch would tell his just disdain ; He ne'er the sword of justice held in vain. The poor he fed ; their wants he oft supplied : The rich and poor, for health, on him relied. The church and public spread around his grave Tears : these could ne'er their friend and patron save. Had tears from this event the husband dear, The best of fathers, friend, relation near, Detained, he still had blessed our loving sight, Nor had we seen the sorrows of that night. Methinks I hear some blissful seraph say : - 'Mark well, my friend, the strait, the shining way ; That is the path thy Christian neighbor trod, - The path that ends in happiness and God.' "

Rev. Dr. Colman, of Boston, in his sermon, preached at Medford, April 6, 1735, after the death of his daughter, Mrs. Jane Turell, speaks thus of Dr. Tufts : " I leave a grateful record of my particular obligation to the pious and beloved physician of the town, who, to and even beyond his power, has always ministered gratis to the pastor and his family. The Lord show kindness to the house of his servant!"

1725, he built the house, which yet stands, on the southeast corner of Forest and Main Streets, in the market, fronting the bridge ; and it well represents the second style of building adopted by our ancestors.

Two sons of Dr. Tufts, Simon and Cotton, studied medicine. Simon, the eldest, finished his three years of preparation with his father just before that father's death. The inhabitants of Medford were anxious to have this promising young man become their physician, and invited him to the office ; which he accepted. Entering upon his practice with confidence and reputation given in advance, as if his father had bequeathed to him his knowledge and experience, he had only to answer the expectations of his friends. He did this, and more. He was born Jan. 16, 1727, and graduated at Harvard College in 1744. At his father's death he had not attained his majority. The care of his mother and her six children devolved, in great measure, on him. Encouraged by friends at home, and having the promise of aid in his medical practice from Dr. Brattle, of Cambridge, he took courage. His mild yet truthful character commanded the respect, while it won the affection, of all. His classmates considered him a ripe Latin scholar, and a boon companion. He had the talent of agreeableness. He received from his father the old-fashioned habits of urbanity, which he observed with a sort of religious strictness. No one passed him unnoticed. It was his custom to lift his hat to each one he met, no matter what the age or color. It was said he wore out two hats where other gentlemen wore out one. His example was so attractive and so uniform that he moulded the manners of the town. It was in this school that his pupil, John Brooks, caught the last finish of dignity and grace for which he was signalized. Aug. 30, 1770, he received from the king the commission of justice of the peace, signed by Governor Hutchinson.

Dr. Tufts had the entire practice of Medford, and was frequently called into the neighboring towns- When the question of Independence came up, he took side for it with warmth, and devoted himself to the wounied soldiers, who were brought here after the battle of Buaker Hill. He was the most intimate friend of Colonel iloyal, who appointed him the sole agent of his large estate : and it was by the skilful and manly conduct of Dr. Tufts that the confiscation of the colonel's property was deferred. In municipal affairs he took a lively interest, and served the town in some important offices, notwithstanding his professional engagements. When quite a young man, November, 1745, he made his public profession of Christianity, and lived consistently therewith. In his speculative opinions, he inclined to what was then called Arminianism. He was so interested in the virtuous character and thirst for knowledge of young John Brooks that he almost adopted him as a son. He took hi» pupil under a written indenture, as an apprentice for seven years, to learn the science and practice of medicine ; and the teacher was as faithful as the pupil was ambitious. He put him to a classical school, took him into his family, directed his studies in medicine, and at length invited him to Medford, and resigned to him his practice. To show the standing which Dr. Tufts had as a scholar, we need only mention that he was one of the first in the State who felt the need of a medical society ; and he was called to the first meeting for consummating the plan, which meeting took place on the third Monday in March, 1765, at Gardner's tavern, on Boston Neck. Of those who have been members of that distinguished society, Dr. Tufts's name stands the second, in the order of time, on the college catalogue. A fall from his horse brought on bleeding of the lungs ; and he died Dec. 81, 1786, aged sixty, leaving a property of £2,676. Is. Sd.

On the tombstone of these two physicians we read the following : "Both eminent in their profession ; just towards man, and devout towards God."

It is worthy of record, that one medical pupil of the father, and another medical pupil of the son, became distinguished officers in the revolutionary army.

Dr. Cotton Tufts, born 1732, brother of the above, graduated at Harvard College 1749 ; studied medicine with his brother ; settled in Weymouth ; became the chosen friend and agent of Hon. John Adams ; was elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences ; a vice-president and president of the Massachusetts Medical Society. He died in 1815, revered for his Christian piety, beloved for his extensive usefulness, and admired for his common sense. Dr. Aaron Putnam, who married Rebecca Hall, daughter of Aaron Hall, of Medford, May 9, 1780, lived in this town ten years ; but his medical practice was so limited that he removed to Charlestown, and formed a partnership with Messrs. Morse and Woodbridge, in the baking business. In this he was not successful. He died in Charlestown.

Dr. John Brooks had not the advantages of a collegiate education ; but this fact stimulated him to make up for it by extraordinary application. The consequence was, a self-made man of the highest type. After completing his medical studies with Dr. Tufts, he settled in Reading, and went thence to the army. After the Revolution, the people of Medford called him, as by acclamation, to become their physician. He accepted ; and here through a long life he had no competitor, and witnessed only an increase of business and popularity. It was common for him to ride, in his practice, as far as Andover, Lynn, Watertown, and Boston. He received the honorary degree of master of arts, in 1787, from Harvard and Yale Colleges. From Harvard he received the degree of doctor of medicine in 1810, and that of doctor of laws in 1817.

Dr. Luther Stearns, who came to Medford as a teacher, occasionally practised as a physician ; but his duties to his school presented obstacles to his wide employment in medical duties, and he finally relinquished the profession. His very acute sensibilities must have made him most acceptable in a sick-chamber ; while in surgical cases they may have been a hinderance. On the election of Dr. Brooks to the office of governor, he resigned his medical practice to his pupil and friend, -

Dr. Daniel Swan, of Medford, - who graduated at Harvard College in 1803. He first entered on practice at Brighton, in 1808, where for eight years he had all the success he anticipated. He was invited by the inhabitants of Medford, in 1816, to become their physician ; and, having obeyed the call, he has practised nearly forty years as the established physician of the place. Very early he turned his attention to homoeopathy ; and, as soon as he could procure the books to examine it scientifically, he became a convert to its principles. His practice did not much diminish on this account ; and he may be said almost to have carried the town with him to his new faith. He thinks his success has been much greater under the new system. As he has withdrawn from general practice on account of age, it would seem affectation to suppress here what is every day repeated in the street, - namely, that everybody respects and loves him, and calls him the "good Samaritan." A graphic writer says of him in print, "His beneficent career is so interwoven with each thread of his existence, that it will be impossible to do him justice until the dead rise and give their account."

(after a visit to Dr. Hahnemann in Europe) as a homoeopathic practitioner, has held a high rank. He is a member of the Massachusetts Medical Society.

Dr. Samuel Gregg, born in New Boston, N.H., came to Medford and commenced practice in 1826, and for fourteen years pursued the allopathic system of cure. By a visit to Dr. Vandenburg, in New York, he became acquainted with the homoeopathic system, and has since used none other. For the last few years he has been a most successful practitioner in Boston, where he has resided.

Dr. Milton Fuller, who has practised acceptably in Medford and the neighboring towns for the last twelve years, on the homoeopathic system, has just removed to Boston.

Of the present physicians of the town, now in full practice, and justly esteemed by all who know them, the usual rules of courtesy forbid us to speak. Drs. Bemis and Dorr practise on the allopathic system.

In reviewing the last century and a quarter, we find that the terms of service with four physicians have filled up this long period ! Medford certainly has not been given to change ; and was ever town more favored in its physicians ? They were men of medical science, of practical skill, of quick sensibility, and irreproachable morals. How steady and powerful the beneficent action of such Christian professors amid the most trying scenes of human life ! What so disgusting as a profane and licentious physician ? There are some noble scholars in the medical profession who maintain that there are very small advances made in therapeutic science, compared with those in kindred branches. They are awaking to the demands of the age ; and the happiest results will in due time follow.

The number of lawyers resident in Medford has been very small, - the quarrelling propensities of the people smaller still. Office business has been the chief source of emolument. Hon. Timothy Bigelow came from Groton, to reside in Medford, in 1808 ; but he relied on the whole county for business, and had as much as, perhaps more than, any other lawyer. Standing so eminently at the bar, he accumulated a fortune by his indefatigable labors. As a senator, a member of the Executive Council, a representative, and speaker of the House, he was placed among the most efficient and accomplished. For many years he represented Medford in the General Court ; and during the whole time he filled the speaker's chair with signal success. He was a member of the American Academy. He was a professor of Christianity, and a constant attendant on public worship. He died May, 1821, aged fifty-four.

Abner Bartlett, Esq., whose name first appears on the town records in 1808, was born in Plymouth, and graduated at Harvard College 1799. He preferred not to appear as an advocate before a jury. His taste led him to the unostentatious duties of a legal life ; and for forty years he attended acceptably to all that Medford needed. As a representative, legal adviser, town officer, and justice of the peace, he was as faithful to duty as is the needle to the pole. He belonged to the working-men, but was one of the " festina lente '; school. He loved human law much ; but he loved the divine law more. No one distinguished more clearly between things that differ, and no one more heartily approved those that were excellent. Truthfulness was interwoven with every fibre of his soul ; and he was for reform in its best sense. He did not

Among the inhabitants of Medford, there has not probably been a man who has served the town in so many and responsible offices as this gentleman. He was not made for a leader ; he had not that kind of force, but left the race to those who coveted the laurels. He was a faithful member of the church, and all but revelled in spiritual disquisitions. As a neighbor he was most friendly, as a critic most caustic, and as a wit most ready. He died Sept. 3, 1850, aged seventy-four. Omne tulit punctum qui miscuit utile dulci.

Jonathan Porter, Esq., born in Medford, devoted the energies of a strong mind and a ripe scholarship to the science of law ; and, while his health allowed, he practised his profession in Boston. For many years past he has been an invalid, confined to his house ; but he has been, nevertheless, a diligent student in literature and the classics. He has entertained sickness as he would entertain an angel, and has hallowed all his sufferings by a meek submission.

lett, and has already been elected a member of the Senate of Massachusetts. May it be long before his name can come under the care of the historian.

A similar wish we may express for Thomas S. Harlow, Esq., who is a permanent and valuable resident in Medford, but attends to his professional business in Boston.

Public Characters

Medford has furnished its share of public characters, who have done it honor ; and they include a governor, lieutenantgovernor, councillors, senators, representatives, clergymen, physicians, lawyers, authors, two professors in colleges, a mayor of Boston, and military commanders in the army and navy of the United States. We may be allowed to signalize our ladies, who have been called to public stations. Two have represented the country, as wives of ministers, at the Court of St. James ; and another has written and published more perhaps than any other female in the United States.

On the Death of a Child, killed by a Gun . . ^ . . . . 1797 Before the Annual Convention of the Congregational Ministers of Massachusetts 1798

At the Ordination of Rev. Leonard Woods, at Newbury . 1798 The Devil let Loose ; or, the Woe occasioned by his wrathful Appearance, - a Sermon on Fast Day 1799

Samuel Hall

He was born in Medford, November, 1740, and served his apprenticeship, at the printing-business, with his uncle, Daniel Fowle, of Portsmouth. He began business in 1763, at Newport, R.I., in company with Anne Franklin. He left Newport in March, 1768, and opened a printing-office in Salem in April, and commenced the publication of the " Essex Gazette," Aug. 2 of that year. In 1772, he admitted his brother Ebenezer as partner in trade ; and the firm was Samuel and Ebenezer Hall. They remained in Salem until May, 1775, when they removed to Cambridge, and printed in Stoughton Hall. Their paper was then called " New England Chronicle and Salem Gazette." Ebenezer was born in Medford, September, 1749, and died in February, 1776, aged twenty-seven. He learned the art of printing from his brother. He was a good workman, a steady young man, and promised to be an able editor.

After the death of Ebenezer, his brother Samuel removed to Boston, and remained there till 1781, when he returned to Salem, and, on Thursday, Oct. 17, 1781, published the " Salem Gazette." The last sheet of this paper which he issued was on Thursday, Nov. 22, 1785. After this, he removed to Boston ; and on Monday, Nov. 26, of that month, he issued the first sheet of the " Massachusetts Gazette." He died Oct. 30, 1807, aged sixty-seven. He was an able

Rev. John Pieupont

Between 1838 and 1845, Mr. Pierpont published numerous documents, in pamphlet form, which make up his part of " The Hollis-street Controversy."

Rev. Andrew Bigelow

This gentleman has published a large octavo volume, describing his travels in Europe, and several sermons, and very valuable reports respecting the ministry to the poor in Boston. Of the much that he has written so well, we regret that no catalogue of his printed works could be procured.

Rev. Convers Francis

A Discourse before the Middlesex Bible Society, in Bedford 1828 An Historical Sketch of Watertown, Mass., from the first Settlement of the Town to the Close of its Second Cen- , / . < looU

A Dudlean Lecture before the University of Cambridge, May 8, 1833, - Popery and kindred Principles unfriendly to the Improvement of Man 1833

On the Use of the "Word Mystery, vol. ii. ; Remarks on Matt, xxviii. 19, vol. iii. ; The Gospel a New Creation, vol. iv. ; Obituary Notice of Rev. Dr. Osgood, vol. iv.

Reason and Faith, vol. iii. ; Article on Dr. Robert South' s Discourses, vol iv. ; Article on Dr. Paley's Life and Writings, vol. v. ; Article on Dr. Young's Library of Old English Prose Writers, vol. vi., new series ; Article on Crombie's Natural Theology, vol. vii., new series ; Article on Reinhard's Plans and Memoirs, &c, vol. viii., new series.

Mrs. Lydia Maria Child Rev. Hosea Ballotj

G. Farnsworth, in Haverhill, Mass., April 12 ... . 1826 The Ancient History of Universalism, from the time of the Apostles to its Condemnation in the Fifth General Council, A.D. 553 ; with an Appendix, tracing the Doctrine

Reply to Tract No. 224 of the American Tract Society . . 18d«J Introduction to an American edition of the History of the Crusades against the Albigenses in the Thirteenth Century, by J. C. L. Sismondi / 18dd

Rev. Charles Brooks

Discourse at the Funeral of Rev. Jacob Flint, Cohasset . 1835 Prussian System of Education, &c, - Lectures delivered before the Legislatures of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, before the American Institute of Instruction, at Lowell . 1838 " Letters of a Foreign Correspondent ; " being Communications from Europe, on Science, Natural History, Education,

Ride through the Gulf, Green Mountains, October . . . 1847 Four Annual Reports of the Sunday-school Society: 1. On the Evils existing ; 2. On the Remedies ; 3. On the Family; 4. Statistics of Schools in United States . . . 1847-50

Contributions to Silliman's Journal ; Journals of Education in Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, New York, and Ohio ; North American Review ; Knickerbocker ; Graham's Magazine ; Friend of Peace ; Christian Citizen ; Colonization Tracts ; Christian Examiner ; Unitarian Miscellany ; Monthly Religious Magazine.

Kev. William H. Eurness

Derby Academy Lecture, - Doing before Believing . . 1847 An Address delivered before the Art Union of Philadelphia 1848 Mirror of Nature, translated from the German of G. H.

Rev. Edward B. Hall

Two Discourses, comprising a History of the First Congregational Church in Providence, after the Close of a Century from the Formation of the Church, with an Appendix 1836

Rev. Caleb Stetson

Articles in the " Christian Examiner : " - The Temperance Movement ; Harriet Martineau's Society in America ; The Word, - Exposition of John i. ; Margaret Fuller's Summer on the Lakes ; The Log Cabin.

Rev. Nathaniel Hall. ' Mrs. Jane Turell

This lady, daughter of Rev. Benjamin Colman, D.D., was born in Boston, Feb. 25, 1708 ; was married to Rev. Ebenezer Turell, of Medford, Aug. 11, 1726 ; joined the church, Oct. 29, 1727 ; and died March 26, 1735. She had three children, all of whom died early.

Some further notice of this talented, accomplished, and Christian lady is required at our hands ; and we gladly rely on the statements contained in "two sermons, preached at Medford, April 6, 1735, by Benjamin Colman ; " and " Memoirs of her Life and Death, by Ebenezer Turell."

" Before her second year was completed, she could speak distinctly, knew her letters, and could relate many stories out of the Scriptures to the satisfaction and pleasure of the most judicious. I have heard that Governor Dudley, with other wise and polite gentlemen, have placed her on a table, and, sitting around it, owned themselves diverted with her stories. Before she was four years old (so strong and tenacious was her memory), she could say the greater part of the Assembly's Catechism, many of the Psalms, some hundred lines of the best poetry, read distinctly, and make pertinent remarks on many things she read."

Her father devoted himself to her education. She inherited a poetic talent ; and some verses written by her, in the beginning of her eleventh year, show its cultivation. In her youthful diary we find the following : -

" 4. Fixed in his religion, a constant attender on the public worship, and who appears not in God's house with the gravity becoming a Christian.

" 5. Of a sweet and agreeable temper ; for if he be owner of all the former good qualifications, and fails here, my life will be still uncomfortable."

These rules governed her in her choice. She had that elasticity of mind and buoyancy of heart which belonged to her nervous, bilious temperament. Capable of the tenderest emotions, and being a ready lover of beauty and virtue, it was not strange that she should be interested in a young gentleman whom she had seen so much at her father's house, and whom that father had taught her to respect. Her rolling black eye had often telegraphed to his heart ; and Mr. Turell was not so much surprised as delighted to receive the following anonymous letter : -

" Sir, - You are to me the most agreeable person in the world ; and I should think myself very happy if Providence should order it as I desire ; but, sir, I must conceal my name, fearing you should expose me ; and if you do not incline to find me out, I must submit to my hard fate ; but if you comply with my desire, I am your obliged friend."

" Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh." Love's polarity in this letter-missive was not to be mistaken ; and the consequence of it was the marriage above recorded ; and a happy marriage it was. She loved to love. The following letter from Dr. Colman to his daughter is pleasant proof of domestic joy : -

" My Dear, - Your letter of the 9th of this month was exceedingly pleasant to me and to your mother, wherein you express your great contentment in the kind disposals of Providence respecting you. No worldly thing can rejoice us more than your happiness in Mr. Turell, and his in you. You will emulate his tender regards to you and his incomparable good temper ; and, learning of him, return the same to him, that he may have as rich a blessing in you as you have in him. Mr. Turell will direct you in renewing your espousals to Christ at his table. Delay not this duty, but join yourself to that church and people of God who (you say) are so full of good-will and love to you. Give yourself first to the Lord, and then unto them by the will of God."

" What greatly contributed to increase her knowledge in divinity, history, physic, controversy, as well as poetry, was her attentive hearing most that I read upon those heads through the long evenings of the winters as we sat together."

Her letters to her father were full of that sweet, filial reverence which ancient manners promoted more than modern. She sends him a pressing invitation, in verse, to visit her in the happy manse at Medford. Her residence then was on the spot now occupied by the house of Misses Elizabeth and Lucy Ann Brooks, - the spot on which this history has been written. In imitation of Horace, she recounts the reasons for his coming. The poem is too long to be extracted here ; so we give only a part : -

For me no fair Egyptian plies the loom ; But my fine linen all is made at home. Though I no down or tapestry can spread, A clean, soft pillow shall suppport your head, Filled with the wool from off my tender sheep, On which with ease and safety you may sleep. The nightingale shall lull you to your rest, And all be calm and still as is your breast."

" You have now just passed your childhood, and are arrived at that stage of life which is most exposed to snares and temptations. Put away all childish things. Behave yourself womanly and like a Christian to all with whom you converse. Indulge not a passionate or fretful temper, much less a haughty or insulting carriage, towards the meanest servant in the family. Be obliging, and modest, and humble ; so shall you deserve and have the esteem of everybody. Be thankful to, and pray for, them that are so kind as to admonish you. Be contented. Wish not yourself in another's place, or that you had another's liberty."

" My Dear, - I thank you for your letter of yesterday, but am sorry you pine so after me, and seem so melancholy. You have reason to be glad and rejoice in the Lord. Fear not as to soul or body, but trust in his salvation.

" I find myself easier in hearing from you, though I see you not. You are always on my heart and mind ; and you are in the hand of a gracious and faithful God.

" I send you a fine present of two oranges, - all we have ; and a piece of chocolate. Don't hanker after any thing. Get above that womanish fancy ; but yet speak, if you crave.

" When the ground is dry, and the weather warm, I shall hope to make a visit to you. The meanwhile, we must meet daily, as you say, which is the best meeting of all, before the throne of grace. Your loving father,

This letter shows, among other things, that a journey from Boston to Medford was an event which must be postponed till the "weather is warm, and the ground dry." Such a reason sounds strange now, when there are twenty separate opportunities in each day of going to and coming from Boston in public conveyances.

" Ten days I hold him in my joyful arms, And feast my eyes upon his youthful charms ; But then the king of terrors does advance To pierce its hosom with his iron lance. Its soul released, upward it takes its flight, Oh, never more below to bless my sight ! Farewell, sweet babe ! I hope to meet above, And there with you sing our Redeemer's love."

Sensibility, benevolence, and devotion were salient traits in Mrs. Turell's character. Her husband says of her, " Some unhappy affairs in Medford, in the years 1729-30, produced many prayers and tears from her." He says elsewhere, " It was her practice to read the Bible out in course once in a year ; the book of Psalms much oftener ; besides many chapters and a multitude of verses, which she kept turned down in a Bible which she had been the owner and reader of more than twenty years." Again he says, " When she apprehended she received injuries, silence and tears were her highest resentments."

" Why hangs such sorrow on your pensiA'e brow ? Say, Turell, why the tears so freely flow ? If you lament the lovely partner fled, In vain you heave the sigh, or rivers shed ; Nor eloquence can soothe, nor virtue awe, Nor force repel the power of Nature's law.

E'en now the flowing numbers left behind Reflect the features of her virtuous mind ; Nor yet, of all the nymphs that grace the plain, Has one appeared to sing so sweet a strain. But most Devotion did its power diffuse, - Soul of her soul, the spirit of her Muse."

This lady was certainly a polished stone in the temple of the Lord. She inherited a most fragile frame, an exquisite sensibility, and a poetic taste. Under peculiar circumstances, the ebbs and flows of feeling were uncontrollable ; but the deep-laid principles of Christian faith and pious trust sustained and delivered her. There was in her a childlike transparency of soul, and a deep well of love, which made her the admiration and blessing of all with whom she lived. She was a model wife for a minister, as he was a model husband ; and the tribute he has left to her affection, usefulness, and piety, is alike honorable to both.

The death of Mrs. Turell brought deep and lasting sorrow to the heart of her aged father. He had lived in her life, and was now ready to die her death. Family afflictions had been few with him. He says, " For six and twenty years there had been no death in my family ! " In speaking of the two sermons preached after the death of Mrs. Turell, he says, " I now make the dedication of both, - first, to the beloved children of my own flock and town ; and then to the beloved people of Medford, to whom I gave away no small part of the light of my eyes in the day I married her to their pastor."

First Meeting-House

During the first years of their residence in Medford, our pious ancestors were not sufficiently numerous and rich to support a minister of the gospel; hence they joined the churches of Cambridge, Charlestown, Watertown, Woburn, and Maiden. That they had preaching in the town at funerals and baptisms, is most probable ; but the loss of our earliest records prevents our stating any specific action on the subject till about 1690, when the desire to build a meetinghouse became strong and effectual. They worshipped in private rooms ; and we find a vote of the town to " pay Thomas Willis thirty shillings for the use of his rooms for one year."

" At a general town-meeting of the inhabitants of Medford, being fifteen days warned, voted that there shall be a meeting-house erected, to be finished the first of October following, on the land of Mr. Thomas "Willis, near the gate by Marble Brook, on a rock on the north side of Woburn Road. It shall be seven and twenty feet long, four and twenty feet wide, and fifteen feet between joints."

The committee to whom was intrusted this important work, " with full power to act therein," were Caleb Brooks and Thomas Willis, " to be joined by the Selectmen, Joseph Hall and John Tufts." Owing to some obstacles, the house was not built at the time first specified ; and the next movement towards it we find in a vote passed Sept. 13, 1695. At this time " a subscription was opened, and one pound was subscribed by the following persons : Thomas "Willis, Caleb Brooks, Stephen Francis, Stephen "Willis, John Francis, John Whitmore, John Bradshoe, Jonathan Tufts, John Hall, jun., Nathaniel Hall, Stephen Hall, sen., John "Willis, Stephen Hall, Percival Hall, Ebenezer Brooks. Twelve shillings were subscribed by Eleazer "Wier and Nathaniel Waite, and six shillings by Samuel Brooks." At this meeting, the town voted, unanimously, that " every person who refused to subscribe should pay twelve pence per head, and one penny on the pound, towards the building of the meeting-house."

September 23, 1695, it was voted " to give sixty pounds for the erection and finishing of the house ; " but, on Nov. 4, 1695, the town took a new step, as follows : " The inhabitants, being now met and assembled, have voted and agreed to have a pulpit and deacons'-seats made, and the body of seats and the walls plastered with lime." On account of these additions to the house, they agreed to give eighty pounds.

The meeting-house having been completed in May, 1696, five gentlemen - viz., Peter Tufts, John Hall, sen., Caleb Brooks, Stephen Francis, and Stephen "Willis - were chosen " the committee to place the inhabitants in the meeting-house ; the Selectmen first to place the committee."

There is no account of any separate religious services at the laying of the corner-stone, or for the dedication of the house. "Whether our Puritan fathers feared being too Jewish, or too Popish, or too Episcopal, we know not.

Thus our ancestors provided themselves with their first house for public worship ; and when we consider that at that time there were but thirty male inhabitants of the town who paid taxes on estates, we may see clearly the cause of delaying such an expenditure, without supposing any lack of interest in piety or the church.

The spot on which the first house stood is now occupied by a cottage, owned by Mr. Noah Johnson, in "West Medford. The passage-way, which was closed by " the gate " mentioned in the vote, still exists as a way to another house in which Mr. Johnson now resides. This spot, consecrated by the prayers and worship of our ancestors, is about twenty rods east-north-east from the crotch of the two roads, - one leading to Woburn, the other to West Cambridge.

The meeting-houses of this period were generally square, or nearly so. Some had spires, and were of two stories, with galleries. The one in Medford was nearly square, of one story, and without spire or galleries, but its windows secured with outside shutters. The roof was very steep, and its humble appearance (twenty-seven by twenty-four) can be readily imagined; and, if it had been made with walls unplastered, its cost probably would not have exceeded sixty pounds. Twelve shillings were annually paid " for keeping the meeting-house."

Instead of pulpits, many houses had tables, from which the sermon was preached, and around which certain privileged persons, besides the deacons, were permitted, by a vote of the town, to sit.

The order of services was much like that now prevalent m congregational churches, except that the Scriptures were not read, and there was no choir. The congregation sung ; and the deacon's pitch-pipe was the only instrumental music

Baptisms were always administered in the meeting-house ; and, if a child had been born on Sunday morning, it was thought a fit offering of piety to have it baptized in that

As pews were not tolerated at first, the town chose a committee " to seat the congregation." Although this committee was composed of the most judicious and popular men, their decisions were not always satisfactory. The rules laid down for seating the people were passed Nov. 30, 1713, and are as follows : " The rule to be observed by said committee, in seating of persons in said meeting-house, is the quality of persons ; they who paid most for building the house, they who pay most for the minister's support, and the charges they have been at and now do pay to the public." In 1703, there was so much heartburning at the placing of the people, that, in the true spirit of republican Congregationalism, they rebelled, and chose a new committee to do the work oyer again. ^

May 25, 1696 : Major Nathaniel "Wade shall have liberty to build a pew in the meeting-house when he shall see reason to do so." Nothing appears in the record to explain this " liberty ; " and therefore we are left to set it down to our forefathers' charity, or submission to wealth, or traditional toleration of rank. As the major was the richest citizen, he had probably done most for the building of the house. But, although this liberty was granted to build when he " saw reason," the town was nervously careful to define the form of his pew, and to fix its exact position. One vote, on another occasion, directed the committee to see that " it should not go beyond the first bar of the window."

A grant subsequently made to another gentleman was accompanied Avith this condition, - that " he must take into his pew one or two persons, not belonging to his family, whom the town may name."

On the same day, the town voted " to build a fore-gallery in the meeting-house, with three seats ; said seats to be parted in the middle, one-half to be used by the men, and the other by the women." This custom of making the galleryseats free, and of confining those on one side to the use of males, and the others to the use of females, continued in Medford until our day.

This " fore-gallery " became a cause of conflict between the two sexes ! By the vote of 1699, the " women " were to occupy one side, and the " men " the other. Of course this just decision satisfied the gentler sex ; and they enjoyed the boon till Jan. 31, 1701, when the town voted that men only should sit in the front gallery of the meeting-house ! This unexplained outrage on female rights roused into ominous activity certain lively members, whose indignant eloquence procured the call of another town-meeting within five weeks, when it was voted to reconsider the decision of the 31st of January, and thus put the matter statu quo ante helium. When the history of the " women movement " of our day shall be written, we commend the above fact to their biographer.

At the same meeting, Lieut. Peter Tufts, Ebenezer Brooks, and Stephen Willis, had leave granted them to build each a pew. This vote was strangely modified, with respect to one of these gentlemen, on the 3d of January, 1715: "Voted that the town will grant Mr. Ebenezer Brooks a pew in the part of their meeting-house joining to the minister's pew, and liberty to make a door into said pew on the outside of said meeting-house" This was the first grant of the kind, and we should hope it would be the last ; for to see the outside of a meeting-house thus sliced up into little private doors, surely could not add much to its beauty or its warmth.

July 28, 1702 : " Voted to give Ensign John Bradshaw fifteen shillings for sweeping the meeting-house one year, cleaning the snow away from the front-door, and shutting the casements."

Nov. 25, 1712 : The town, for the first time, granted permission to one of their number to build a shed for his horse. "A merciful man is merciful to his beast." If horses think, what must they have thought of the early settlers ?

We have dwelt on these minute details, because they only can give the true history of our early ancestors. These little facts tell great truths. They show us how much our fathers did with the scantiest means ; and, better than all, they prove to us that the noble Anglo-Saxon Puritans who settled these shores could not be seduced by poverty to abate a tittle of their high-minded integrity, or their jealousy of power, or their Christian enthusiasm.

Second Meeting-House

A new house was first proposed May 28, 1716, because the enlargement of the old would cost nearly as much as the building of a new one. The committee reported that its size should be " fifty feet long, thirty-eight broad, and twenty-seven feet stud." It was to have diamond glass and window-shutters, and was to cost four hundred and fifty pounds. In 1719, the subject again came up for more decisive action ; and, in Feb. 9 of that year, they put the question in this form : " Put to vote, whether the town will build a new meeting-house forthwith. Voted in the negative."

A movement so full of interest to every family would naturally bring out some diversity of opinion in a widely scattered population. In order, therefore, to secure harmony in the best plan, they were willing to accede to what judicious and disinterested men might say was best. Accordingly, March 7, 1720, in a full town-meeting, they put the question thus : -

" Whether the town will choose a committee of five gentlemen, from some of our neighboring towns, to give their advice, whether it will he most convenient for the town, at present, to build a new meeting-house, or to enlarge the old. And, in case said committee do advise to build a new meeting-house, then said committee to state a place, as near the centre of the town as can be, which shall best accommodate the whole town for setting of said house."

This was " voted in the affirmative," and the meeting was then adjourned one week to March 14 ; but the time was too short for so much business. "When, however, the meeting of the 14th took place, the town passed a vote supplementary to that of the 7th inst. ; and in these words are the record : -

" At said meeting, put to vote, whether the town will abide by, and rest satisfied with, the advice and determination of the abovesaid committee, which shall be according to the vote above written, referring to building a new meeting-house or enlarging of the old, and also as to stating a place for said house. Voted in the affirmative."

This vote was passed after the town had chosen the committee, and had probably learned something of their views. The committee make their report ; whereupon the town, Feb. 20, 1721, after nearly a year's delay and various indefinite activities, come to the question of this report of the committee. The record is as follows : -

Public Buildings

" Put to vote, whether the town doth accept of the result of the committee, referring to a meeting-house in Medford, as a perfect result according to the votes of said town. Voted in the negative."

It does not appear what were the grounds of objection to the result of the committee ; but the vote above, of Feb. 20, drew forth the following protest from the Westenders : -

" We, the subscribers, do enter our dissent against the town's proceedings in the above-written vote (of the 20th of February), for the following reasons ; to wit : -

" 1. That, at a meeting legally convened, March 14, 1720, the town did make choice of a committee of five gentlemen, to advise and determine the affair of the meeting-house in said town, as may at large appear by said votes referring thereto ; and did also hind themselves, by a vote, to abide by, and rest satisfied with, the advice and determination of said committee.

" 2. The gentlemen chosen by the town as a committee, being met at Medford, April 2, 1720, after consultation upon said affair, drew up a result, under all their hands, and publicly read and declared the same to the town, or those of them then present.

" 3. That said committee, by their result, did oblige the inhabitants of the West End of the town to procure the land for erecting a new meeting-house upon, at their own cost and charge ; and also to remove all encumbrances, as expressed in said result.

" 4. That we, the subscribers, have, in obedience to said result, procured the land and removed the encumbrances, as above said, at our own cost and charge ; and, for these and the like reasons, we enter against said vote as being illegal and unjust.

As this subject created local or territorial interests, it was prudently thought best not to force any measure relating to it. More than a year elapsed before any decisive action was taken. July 19, 1722, voted " to build a meeting-house according to the advice and determination of the honored committee0 chosen and empowered by the town to state that affair, and in the same place which said committee stated and ordered in the result."

"We, the subscribers, do enter our dissent against the vote abovesaid, referring to the building of a new meeting-bouse, for the reasons following ; to wit : first, it is wholly contrary to the warrant granted for said meeting; and also, it being contrary to a former vote of the town.

This difference of opinion, running longitudinally east and west, destroyed not the harmony of the town in other things ; but served only to postpone action, and wait the leadings of Providence. More than two years elapsed before we find the following vote : " To place the new meeting-house either on the north or south side of the country road, on a piece of land 'belonging to John Bradshaw, jun." This spot was afterwards rejected. More unanimity began now to prevail in this matter ; and a committee was chosen whose wisdom and impartiality harmonized every thing. The spot selected was on the south side of the country road, near " Marble Brook," four or five rods south-east of the bridge now across that stream, which afterwards took the name of "Meetinghouse Brook," and retains it to this day. The land was owned by that self-made and thrifty farmer, Mr. John Albree ; and on the 10th of January, 1726, the town voted to give fifty-five pounds for one acre, and to appropriate three hundred and sixty pounds for the building of the house. The committee appointed to determine the size and shape of the house were " Thomas Tufts, Esq., Captain Ebenezer Brooks, Mr. Peter Seccombe, Mr. John Richardson, Captain Samuel Brooks, Mr. John Willis, Mr. William Willis, Lieutenant Stephen Hall, Mr. John Frasncis, Mr. Benjamin Parker, and Mr. John Whitmore." They reported that " it would be proper for this toAvn to build a meeting-house fifty-two feet large, thirty-eight feet wide, and thirty-three feet posts." This report was accepted, and the same committee empowered to build the house.

high, as its predecessor, and about twice as large. The steeple, rising from the centre of the four-faced roof, gave to the structure an appearance like that of the old meeting-house now standing in Hingham, Mass., which was built in 1680. Some of us remember the old meeting-house in Lynn, built about the same time, after the same model.

Aug. 24, 1727 : " Voted to meet in the new meeting-house sabbath-day after next." Accordingly, on Sunday, Sept. 3, 1727, the inhabitants of Medford met for the first time in their new house ; and Rev. Mr. Turell preached an appropriate sermon from Psalm lxxxiv. 1 : " How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts ! " Any special dedicatory services would have been distasteful to a people who had not forgotten the superstitions of Popery, or the persecutions of the English church.

Here was a new fortress for keeping the truth, and also for assailing the "ten idols:" 1. The surplice and Popish wardrobe. 2. The sign of the cross in baptism. 3. Kneeling at the Lord's Supper. 4. Setting the communion-table altar-wise. 5. Bowing at the name of Jesus. 6. Popish holidays. 7. Consecrating churches. 8. Organs and cathedral-music. 9. The Book of Common Prayer. 10. A church government by bishops.

Our Puritan forefathers having procured their second house for public worship of a size commensurate with their numbers, and at a cost proportionate to their wealth, their first care was for their pastor's family ; and they passed the following vote : " That the town will build a ministerial pew in the meeting-house, in the place where the Rev. Mr. Turell shall choose."

As no pews were built, the people were to sit on long, uncushioned seats, wherever the " seating committee " should designate. This custom became less and less agreeable ; and, by degrees, the just, pacific, and convenient fashion of separated pews crept in. Various expedients were devised, and many of them abandoned ; but, Oct. 23, 1727, it was voted "that certain lots for pews should be sold, but that each person must build his pew at his own cost ; and if he moved out of town, his pew became the town's, the town paying therefor." Subsequently it was voted to build twenty-seven pews, and then let the committee determine who should have a right to build. The requisites were age, dignity, parentage, usefulness, and the charges which persons had paid to the town and to the meeting-house. Here was a wide door open for jealousy and discontent. The next year, 1728, the committee determine " to build twenty-eight. pews," to be placed next the wall, all round the house. Each pew had its price assessed by the committee, and, when paid for, was guaranteed to its owner as regular real estate. Some had no doors, and therefore must be entered through a contiguous pew ! The' right of choice was now given to twenty-five gentlemen ; and here follows the eventful catalogue in the order fixed according to the supposed social rank of each: -

We know not the exact position of any pew occupied by either of the twenty-five gentlemen, save one ; and that is the pew, number one, which was the first on the east side of the broad aisle, nearest the front door, taken by Captain Samuel Brooks'. His son Thomas chose the same place in the third new house. The price of these pews varied from twelve to eight pounds.

1729 : Voted " to petition the General Court for some relief under present differences and difficulties." The town appoints " Captain Ebenezer Brooks, Mr. Peter Seccombe, Mr. William Patten, and Jonathan Tomson, as a committee to lay the case before the committee of the House of Representatives." A committee of four (Hodijah Savage, Thomas Berry, Joseph Wilder, and William Ward) met at Medford, when all things were explained concerning the discontent and disputes about certain pews in the new meeting-house. The award was drawn up in form, and was final, and it placed three or four persons anew !

June 26, 1740 : The town voted to place a bell on the meeting-house ; but, as it was decided to purchase the bell with money which should be raised from the sale of bricks owned by the town, the bell was not bought, because the bricks were not sold. However, this appendage to a meetinghouse, so necessary in those days, when watches were not as

"July 23, 1736: "Voted that John Bradshaw, jun., should have liberty to cut a door-place and make a door at the south end of the meeting-house into his pew."

So near to " Marble Brook " was this house placed, that, on the 3d of December, 1745, the town voted to take all necessary measures " to prevent the water of the brook from washing away the earth near the north-west corner of the meeting-house."

This second meeting-house was in use forty -three years ; during which time there were five thousand one hundred and thirty -four sermons preached, and one thousand two hundred and eighteen persons baptized in it. The farewell service was March 4, 1770.

The house was sold at auction, to John Laithe, for £24 (O.T.) ; its underpinning to Benjamin Hall, for £13. 6s. Sd. The land sold for £197 (O.T.) ; the old schoolhouse upon it, for .£38.

Third Meeting-House

The increase and prosperity of the town called for a new meeting-house ; but the trying question was, "Where shall it be placed ? As the majority of the inhabitants were east of the old meeting-house, it was but right to place the new one nearer the centre of population. In 1768, it was proposed to build it " between the Meeting-house Brook, so called, and the widow Mary Greenleaf s." This was abandoned. April 4 of the same year, it was voted by the town thus : " When the town builds a meeting-house, they will build said house upon the widow Watson's orchard, before her dwelling-house, provided said land can be procured on reasonable terms." This proposition was no more successful than the last. Aug. 22, 1768 : " Voted to build a meetinghouse on land bought of Mr. John Bishop ; the house to be of the following dimensions : sixty-six feet long, forty-six feet wide, with forty-eight pews on the floor, and eight in the gallery ; with a tower from the ground, without a spire ; two porches ; doors and windows to be painted three times ; leads and pulleys in the windows. The whole cost not to exceed £933. 6s. 8d." This plan was adopted, and the house built on the spot now occupied by the meeting-house of the first church. Another important vote was passed, providing that a subscription should be opened, and the citizen who subscribed the most towards building the house should have his first choice of a pew ; and so the rest, in the order of their relative sums. Forty-five gentlemen subscribed. March 13, 1769, voted to have a spire, whose cost should "not exceed £66. 13s. 4d." May 15, 1769, voted " that there may be conducting-rods put upon the steeple, if they cost the town nothing." Price of labor at this time, for a man, 3s. 6d. per day ; for man and team, 6s. 8d.

By the usual courtesy, the pastor took the first choice, and selected pew No. 27; which thereupon became the "minister's pew," owned by the town.

It is specially recorded, that, at " the raising " of this meeting-house, which took place July 26 and 27, 1769, " there was no one hurt." That such an exemption was remarkable, at that period, may be explained by the fact, that probably our fathers did not put themselves into that condition which generally secures catastrophies. An authentic record from another town, under date of Sept. 13, 1773, may make this matter clear : " Voted to provide one barrel of West India rum, five barrels of New England rum, one barrel of good brown sugar, half a box of good lemons, and two loaves of loaf sugar, for framing and raising the meeting-house." Here a natural consequence followed, - two-thirds of the frame fell : many were hurt, and some fatally.

Thus our fathers procured for themselves their third temple of worship, placed near the centre of population, upon a commanding spot, and exhibiting a most respectable exterior, with a commodious and appropriate interior. It is agreeable to one's mind to contrast the three forms of meeting-houses which obtained in New England up to this time. The first was a one-story, square building, in naked and uncheerful5 simplicity, with straw-thatched roof; lighted, not by glass windows, but by the opening of outside shutters ; and had within neither pews nor pulpit. The second was two stories high ; had diamond-glass windows ; a four-sided, sloping roof, of wood, with a turret in its centre for a bell ; and sometimes a portico in front ; and, within, a gallery, some pews, a deacon's seat, and a pulpit. The third was two stories high, had window-sashes and square glass, a two-sided roof, with a tower from the ground, and three porches ; while its interior showed galleries round three sides, in which, fronting the pulpit, were seats for twenty -five or fifty singers ; and, on the lower floor, wall-pews, three inches higher than the rest ; two free seats, nearest the pulpit, for deaf old men and women ; a deacon's seat, in front of the pulpit ; and the sacred desk not at the end, as is now the fashion, but in the centre of one of the longest sides of the house, its top from eight to ten feet above the floor, and over it fastened a "sounding-board." The sexton, up to this time, had his post of honor near the preacher ; and his duty was to attend to any wants of the officiating clergyman, and also to turn the hour-glass when its sands had run out. This last operation was doubtless to inform the congregation how much instruction they had received, and to prophesy of the remainder.

It is not difficult to imagine the appearance of a congregation in 1650, - - the men on one side, and the women on the other, sitting on wooden benches, in January, under a thatched roof, with one or two open window-places, without stoves, singing Sternhold and Hopkins and the New England Psalms, and then listening to a two-hours' service with devotion !

On Sunday, March 11, 1770, our fathers and mothers, with their entire families, entered, for the first time, their new meeting-house. Unfortunately, their beloved pastor was ill ; and the services of the day were performed by Mr. Andrew Elliot, jun., a tutor in Harvard College. The celebrated George Whitefield preached a dedicatory discourse in this house, Aug. 26, 1770, fron 2 Chron. v. 14. Our fathers had no special services for the dedication of a new house of worship, because they could not tolerate any imitation of the English church ; and we have always had to regret their further indiscretion in banishing, for the same poor reason, the sacred observance of Christmas and Good Friday.

July 28, 1771, Sunday: On this day was used, for the first time, the new pulpit-cushion given by William Pepperell, Esq., who imported it from England, at a cost of eleven guineas.

March 5, 1787 : Some inhabitants of taste and public spirit propose to plant ornamental trees in front of the meetinghouse. The town voted not to have them !

Never was there a house that received fewer repairs. In 1814, they who are first to discover needs, and quickest to relieve them, subscribed one hundred and fifty dollars ; and soon the pulpit wore a new color, showed a new cushion, and rejoiced in new curtains. One gentleman was admitted to participation in this pious offering of the ladies, by presenting a copy of the Sacred Scriptures in two volumes.

The second was built according to the following order of the town, Oct. 5, 1730 : " Voted to build a new schoolhouse, twenty-four feet long, twenty feet wide, and ten feet stud, on town's land, by the meeting-house." It was near Marble Brook, on the north-west corner of the lot, upon the border of the road.

The third schoolhouse stood very near the street, on land now owned by Samuel Train, Esq., about ten feet east of the house he now occupies ; and, when that mansion-house was first repaired, the schoolhouse was moved, and now makes part of the rear of said dwelling.

The fourth schoolhouse stood as ordered by the following vote: March 11, 1771, "voted to build the schoolhouse upon the land behind the meeting-house, on the north-west corner of the land." This spot is three or four rods northwest of the present meeting-house of the first parish. The building-committee were " Benjamin Hall, Captain Thomas Brooks, and Mr. Willis Hall."

These houses, above noticed, were of wood ; but the town, May 5, 1795, voted to build a brick schoolhouse behind^ the meeting-house. They agreed to give William Woodbridge two hundred and twenty pounds, and the old schoolhouse, to build it. This was the fifth house built by the town. It consisted of one large room, sufficient for sixty or seventy pupils : it was arranged after the newest models, and furnished with green blinds, hung at their tops ! The arrangement within was simple. The master's desk was on a raised platform, in one corner. Undivided seats ran lengthwise through the whole extent of the room. The oldest pupils sat with their backs to the windows, and their desks before them. The younger pupils sat below them, with their backs against the desks of their seniors, and their own desks before them. The smallest children sat below these last, leaning their backs against the desks of their seniors, but having no desks before them. The above arrangement occupied one side of the room ; and the other side was exactly like it. Thus the three rows of boys on the north side faced the three rows of girls on the

As this house was the last in the series of old-fashioned and inconvenient models, it may be worth while to say a word about them. To speak generally, the schoolhouses had been as cheerful-looking objects as the county -jail, and quite as agreeable residences. Their windows were small ; and some sashes had panes just as transparent as pasteboard or a felt-hat, - which substitutes for glass lessened the need of blinds. The outer door had a strong lock upon it, while its two lower panels were in the vocative. The seats and desks being undivided, each pupil was compelled to mount upon the seat, and travel behind his classmates till he came to his place ! This operation was a standing trial of patience to those engaged in writing. The heavy tread of a careless boy upon the seat of a writer was not calculated to improve chirography or the temper. The smallest children, who had no desks before them, were packed so close together that the uneasiness and pain which nature shoots through young limbs at rest subjected them to frequent admonition and eartwigging. They who happened to be opposite the great iron stove, which stood in the centre of the room, were almost roasted ; and they literally got their learning by the sweat of their brows. They who sat near this stove through a winter would be proof against any heat to be found in this world. So violent a fire at the centre caused the wind to rush in through the unpatented ventilators, - the cracks in the windows ; and a consequence was, that, while the children nearest the stove were sweltering under more than the equatorial heat of the torrid zone, they who were nearest the windows were shivering under the icy blasts of the frozen latitudes. How philosophers would have traced the isothermal lines in such a room, we know not ; since, going from the centre to the circumference, one would travel through all the five zones. There was some compensation in the music which the winds made. Everv schoolhouse had the true Borean harps ; or, rather, winter's Panharmonicons, played upon by all the blasts in turn. The desks of the pupils became more and more interesting. Once they were wide and smooth ; but, when that time was, few could remember. The adult

" Walls on which he tried his graving skill ; The very name he carved existing still ; The bench on which he sat while deep employed, Though mangled, hacked, and hewed, yet not destroyed."

How many penknives were tried on the benches, desks, and doors of the schoolhouse, arithmetic cannot compute ; but one thing is clear, that, whether the school left its mark on the pupil's mind or not, each pupil felt bound to leave his mark on the house.

The town proceeded immediately to the building of a new schoolhouse, on the spot where the Park-street house was burned. April 2, 1855, Messrs. Franklin Patch, Judah Loring, and Charles S. Jacobs were chosen a committee to produce a plan, publish proposals, and carry forward the work, - consulting with the school-committee.

The report of this committee was accepted and adopted : the consequence will be, a plain, substantial schoolhouse, two stories high, and furnished with all the modern' conveniences.

History Of Medfokd Town-Hall

The question concerning the right of the town to use the meeting-house of the first parish for town-meetings having been settled, the inhabitants began to devise measures for building a town-house ; and the subject came up for consideration, Dec. 6, 1827 ; but no definite action was had. It engaged attention at subsequent meetings ; but nothing final occurred till March 4, 1833, when a committee recommended the building of a town-house, whose dimensions should be " sixty-five feet long, forty wide, and eighteen-feet posts." This report was accepted ; and the land on which the building now stands, on the north-east corner of Main and High^ Streets, was purchased of the heirs of Mr. Samuel Buel for $3,000. The plan of the building was drawn by Mr. Benjamin, of Boston. The length was extended to seventy feet. The cost of land and building was $10,062.25. The engraving will give an exact idea of its present appearance. It was found commodious, and was used for all public gatherings.

It was let for two dollars per evening, and to a religious society for two dollars per Sunday. The building-committee were Messrs. John P. Clisby, John Sparrell, and Thomas R. Peck.

Oct. 27, 1839 : Saturday night it was partly destroyed by fire. Nov. 25, the town voted to rebuild on the original model. The insurance of $5,000 was used to pay for the repairs, and nearly covered the whole amount, which was $5,389.89. The south end was built of brick, and the housemade thirteen feet longer than at first. It was again insured, at the same office, for $5,000. The building-committee were Messrs. Darius Waite, Milton James, and John P. Clisby.

Oct. 18, 1850 : Saturday night it was again burned in part. The town voted to rebuild ; and, having received from the insurance-office §4,580, this money was used for payment. The building-committee were Messrs. Daniel Lawrence, George T. Goodwin, and Charles S. Jacobs ; the masterbuilder, Mr. Charles Caldwell. The cost of rebuilding was $5,941.26. Its dimensions now are ninety-two feet ridge, eighty-three feet body, and forty feet width.

Alms-Houses

Our intelligent and thrifty Puritan ancestors had no need of alms-houses. They who came here were the robust and young ; and they insisted on obedience to the text, " He that will not work, neither shall he eat." Idleness was whipped cut of the men by the magistrates, as out of the boys by their parents. The first mention in our Medford records of any alms-house is May 16, 1737, - more than a century after the incorporation of the town ; and then it is proposed to invite neighboring towns to unite in building a common workhouse. The inhabitants chose a committee to confer with the adjacent towns, and to induce them to join in "building a house for employing poor, indigent, and slothful persons." This proposition was not accepted ; and Medford did nothing more about the matter till May 23, 1774, when a committee was chosen to provide a poorhouse on account of the town exclu- sively. This was the definite movement that led to practical results, and it was the first in this particular direction. It shows that the number of paupers were small till this time.

In 1790, the town purchased a large house at the West End, near where the Lowell Railroad Station now is, together with a small lot of land, sufficient only for a vegetable garden. Here the poor and helpless were gathered and made comfortable ; but after twenty years it was found insufficient ; and the constant perplexities to which the overseers of the poor were subjected, induced the town to think of building a new and ample house of brick. On the 4th of March, 1811, the whole matter was committed to the five following gentlemen : Timothy Bigelow, John Brooks, Jonathan Brooks, Isaac Brooks, and Abner Bartlett. After several meetings and much investigation, they report, that it is expedient for the town to build a large and commodious house, of brick, on the spot occupied by the old one. This report was accepted ; and the same gentlemen were appointed the building-committee, to proceed immediately in the work. Discontents arose to fetter the proceeding ; and, after much vacillating legislation, the final result was the ample brick square house, whose strong walls only are yet standing to support a new, expensive, and commodious country-seat. It is only justice to say, that this act of the town was suggested, and the wor^ carried forward, through the wisdom and energy of Isaac Brooks, Esq., who was indefatigable, as an overseer of the poor, in procuring every convenience and comfort for the inmates of the house that he consistently could.

1828, the project of purchasing a farm, as some towns had done, on which to employ the poor as laborers, came up for discussion ; and so favorably did the inhabitants view it, that they voted to purchase as soon as a proper one could be found. No purchase was made ; and in 1832 a committee is directed to sell the poorhouse, if they think it advisable. It is not done ; and in 1837 the town again called up the subject, and appointed a committee to examine lands and close the bargain. But no farm was purchased.

In 1849, the town bought a large lot of ten and a half acres in West Medford, on Purchase Street, for a cemetery. After the purchase, it was thought that the situation was

Trade

April 8, 1852 : A committee was appointed to sell the old alms-house, and devise a plan for a new one. This committee consisted of the following gentlemen : Samuel Joyce, Elisha Stetson, Caleb Mills, John A. Page, and Franklin Patch. The committee performed their duty acceptably, and were directed to build according to the model ; and the consequence was the spacious and comfortable house now occupied by the public poor of the town.

Medford having for its friend the richest merchant belonging to the " Company " of the Massachusetts Plantation, its trade was great at first.

Oct. 16, 1629 : The General .Court ordered " that the company's joint stock shall have the trade of beaver and all other furs in those parts, solely, for the term of seven ytars from this day."

May 18, 1631 : " It is ordered that every plantation within the limits of this patent shall, before the last day of June next, provide common weights and measures, which shall be made by some which the governor hath already sealed, and

Mr. Cradock's large outlay here, for all the accommodations requisite in building schooners and carrying on an extensive fishing business, made this region a trading centre. This first state of things continued till the withdrawal of Mr. Cradock's property, a few years after his death. The fishing business had been unsuccessful, and no one woald continue it. The second period of trade in Medford reached (to speak in round numbers) from 1650 to 1750, during which time the manufacture of bricks was the most important and lucrative business pursued in the town. Other branches gradually increased.

1650 to 1700, there were no newspapers, no scientific lectures, no bank, no insurance-companies, nc post-office, no stage-coaches, no good roads. Must not trade have been small ?

The third period extended from 1750 to 1805. It began to be understood that Medford could furnish the staple articles of iron, steel, lead, salt, molasses, sugar, tea, codfish, chocolate, guns, powder, rum, &c, to country traders at a less price than they could get them at Boston. The distilling business and the manufacture of bricks required many lighters to go loaded to Boston : returning, they could bring back iron, steel, &c., at small cost. Medford, therefore, by its river, became a centre of supply to country traders from New Hampshire and Vermont. Supply begets market, as market begets supply. Traders here could purchase ivory-handled knives, spring-lacks, brass-ware, tin, and pewter ; of groceries, every thing but good tea and coffee ; of dry goods, Kent linen, cotton. Irish stockings, Turkey mohair, red serge, broadcloth, muffs, ribbons, lace, silks, combs, napkins, yellow taffety, thread-lace, gloves, &c. Barter was the most common form of trade ; and the exchanges were made with about half the care and selfishness so active at this day.

Pitch, tar, and turpentine were brought from the interior at an early date ; but, in 1755, it became an active business. Casks for them were made in Medford ; and the vote of the town required that each cask should be examined by a committee, and, if well made, then marked with a double M. Coopering now became an extensive and profitable branch of business. It was begun, before the Revolution, by the agency of Mr. Benjamin Hall. Charles Henley, of Boston, was his foreman, and superintended it till 1802. Andrew Blanchard, Joseph Pierce, and James Kidder were apprentices in Mr. Hall's establishment.

Mr. Benjamin Hall was among the first and the most active of tie Medford merchants. He not only carried on the distilling business, but had a large store for wholesale barter. It was not uncommon for him to receive a hundred barrels of pearl-ashes per day, and five hundred tierces of flax-seed pei year. He also carried on the " beef business," having seven hundred head of cattle slaughtered each year. Mr. Ebeaeser Hall had an equal number slaughtered ; and they made all their tallow into candles. The drovers were glad to take 'heir pay in sugar, molasses, iron, tea, rum, &c.

How different this from the course of trade in England, where a man was forbidden by law to carry on two mechanic trades or different pursuits ! A tanner could not be a shoemaker.. These monopolies and legal restrictions had no place in New England ; and their absence was a prime cause of our great prosperity. It made every free man a free trader. The British Parliament tried to put on the handcuffs of restriction : bat the colonists would not wear them. Gallatin says, '- No cause has contributed more to the prosperity of this country than the absence of those systems of internal restriction and monopoly which continue to disfigure other countries."

Mr. Jonathan Porter opened a store of English goods previous to the Revolution, and gradually enlarged his business till he sold all the heavier articles of inland commerce. There are those now living who remember when from twenty to thirty " country pungs " were gathered about the doors of these Medford traders, discharging and taking in their loads. These pungs were drawn by two horses each, and started as far north as Montpelier, Vt., and Lancaster, N.H. With three large distilleries in full action, and many sloops and schooners navigating the river, Medford became one of the most active and thriving towns in the Commonwealth. Distillation was then esteemed by most persons not only lawful and right, but a highly respectable business. With rapid strides, Medford rose in wealth and increased in numbers ; and, in 1805, there were many stores opened, where the necessaries and conveniences, and even the ornaments and luxuries, of life could be obtained at as cheap a rate as in Boston.

The fourth period of trade in Medford extends from 1805 to the present time. The ship-building, the introduction of steam, the Middlesex Canal, the immigration of Bostonkns to this place, - these all helped to open new avenues to wealth, and increase the facilities of supply. Within this period, more than half the present number of houses have been built ; and there are now five public highways where there was one fifty years ago. The whole course of trade Las changed from barter to cash payments or credits ; and cne trader now can do as much in a year as three could it the beginning of this century. The number of gentlemen vho reside here, and do business in Boston, is very large, and they are multiplying every month. The cars on both railroads are filled every morning, - the earliest with laborers, the next with merchants, and the last with ladies.

During the embargo, in 1808, an old black schooner came up Mystic River with a deck-load of wood and bark. A custom-house officer from Boston took possession of her as a suspected smuggler. The captain invited the officer to take supper with him in the cabin. They sat and ate together ; and the captain asked to be excused a moment while he gave an order to his men. No sooner had he arrived on deck than he turned and fastened the cabin door. Extempore Indians were ready to unload the hold of the schooner, which was full of English goods, wire^ &c, from Halifax. During half the night, horse-wagons were passing to Boston from the old wharf, owned by Francis Shed, below the ship-yard. Some teams went to Maiden, and .some to West Cambridge. The amounts were very large, and the goods of the costliest kinds. The planting of that night produced a rich harvest. The goods were never discovered ; but the vessel was condemned and confiscated. How soundly the officer slept is not known.

was, in one sense, a factory ; for almost every one had a spinning-wheel and loom. For the early ship-building, there must have been extensive iron-works ; and much weaving of cotton and wool must have been necessary to supply the large numbers of fishermen and brick-makers. Much wool was cleaned, carded, and rolled at the mill of Mr. John Albree, who was a manufacturer of starch and pomatum. Leaving out brick-making, ship-building, and distilling, we have little to record. "Wooden heels were made by Mr. Samuel Reeves, 1750 ; and specimens of his work are yet among his great-grandchildren in Medford. Candles and hogsheads were extensively made, about the same time, by Messrs. Benjamin and Ebenezer Hall. Saltpetre was made in considerable quantities by Mr. Isaac Brooks. Wheelwrights carried on their business to a large extent. Mr. James Tufts and Son carried on for many years the pottery business. Tanning was vigorously pursued, with a great outlay of capital, by Mr. Ebenezer Hall, on land a few rods south-west of the Episcopal church ; and by Mr. Jonathan Brooks, on land near Marble Brook, now owned by Mr. Noah Johnson. The first tan-yard in Medford was on the corner lot southeast of Whitmore's Bridge. It was bounded ovi the east by the brook, on the west by Lowell Street, and on the north by High Street. It was last owned by Mr. Nathan Tufts and Mr. Jonathan Brooks, in company. When they sold it, Mr. Tufts moved to Charlestown, and became the most extensive manufacturer of leather in the State.

At Baconville, now in Winchester, Medford had a factory, first owned by Mr. Josiali Symmes. About forty years ago, a company of Boston gentlemen purchased the water-power of Mr. Symmes, for the purpose of setting in motion a new machine for spinning yarn for the manufacture of broadcloth. This project, introduced by a Frenchman, failed; and the mill-power was then applied to the manufacture of wood screws, by a machine entirely new. This would have succeeded; but, the war of 1812 with Great Britain having ended, wood screws were imported from England so cheap as to render competition ruinous. John L. Sullivan, Esq., the chief agent, afterwards sold the establishment to Mr. Stowell for $4,000, through whom it came into possession of its present owner, Robert Bacon, Esq. He has built three factories and two dwelling-houses, which have been burned ; three in 1840, the last in 1843.

Since writing the above, we are called to record another destructive fire at Baconville of the factories there. They were burned Sunday evening, April 8, 1855.

Mr. Bacon brought his machinery from Boston to Medford in 1824, and manufactured hat-bodies, feltings, &c, employing eighteen or twenty men. Once only he counted ; and in that year he formed 83,000 hat-bodies. This work was done by the use of Silas Mason's patent, and T. F. Mayhew's improved machine. He also planked many thousands yearly ; which operation was by the use of Macomber's patent, and his own improvement. He also blowed the hair from fur, by the use of Arnold Buffom's patent blowing-machine. This process was truly ingenious. It was accomplished by placing the fur on the apron, which was drawn upon a cylindrical picker, revolving at the rate of five thousand times a minute ; thence it was thrown to a fan revolving at nearly the same speed ; this sent it through a trunk sixty feet long into a closet. The bottom of the trunk was lined with coarse cloth ; the hair, being heaviest, fell and stuck to the cloth : the consequence was that the fur was almost entirely cleared of the hair, and thus the hats were finer. This business he continued till 1848, when he resigned it to his son, who has changed the business to the manufacture of all kinds of feltings and lambs'-wool wadding. Among the feltings he has invented a new kind, called sheathing felt, used for covering the bottoms of ships : it can also be placed under the copper, and is much used in covering steam-boilers and pipes.

The making of linseed oil was carried on by Mr. George L. Stearns, on land about fifty rods south of Mystic Bridge. He imported his seed from Calcutta. A convention of manufacturers of this oil was held at New York in 1841 ; and they agreed to send a committee to Washington, to induce Congress to shape the tariff of 1842 so as to protect them. The committee succeeded; and Mr. Stearns was one of them. The effect was the opposite of what they expected : it induced so many new men to begin the business that it ruined it. From 1835, the manufactory in Medford continued in operation to 1845, when it suspended activity. It resumed work for a year, when the building was burned in 1847.

The factory of Messrs. Waterman and Litchfield, for the making of doors, blinds, window-sashes, &c, is a large and flourishing establishment, near the entrance of Medford Turn-

Brick-Making

The large deposits of valuable clay within the town of Medford early directed the attention of the enterprising inhabitants to the manufacture of bricks ; and those made in 1630 for Mr. Cradock's house were the first. Bricks were made on Colonel Royal's estate. Clay deposits were found between his mansion-house and the river. A most extensive and profitable business was carried on in these yards for many years. At a later date, say 1750, bricks were made on land directly north of Dr. Tufts's house. The steep bank now in front of Mr. George W. Porter's house marks the place. This land, called Brick-yard Pasture, was owned by Rev. Matthew Byles, of Boston, and sold by him to Dr. Simon Tufts, March 26, 1761.

Nov. 14, 1774, the town passed the following vote : " That this town does disapprove of any bricks being carried to Boston till the committees of the neighboring towns shall consent to it."

In 1785, Stephen Hall willed " the brick-yards now in the occupation of Thomas Bradshaw, and Samuel Tufts, jun." About this time, Captain Caleb Blanchard and his brother Simon made bricks in a yard near Mr. Cradock's house, in the eastern part of the town ; and afterwards in a yard on land opposite the Maiden Alms-house, just on the borders of East Medford.

The bricks used for the construction of the six tombs first built in the old burying-ground were made in a yard owned by Thomas Brooks, Esq. That yard was near M,ystic River, about half-way between Rock Hill and the Lowell Railroad Bridge. In that yard, Samuel Francis made bricks as early as 1750, and sold them at ten shillings per thousand (lawful money). Mr: Brooks carried on the manufacture in 1760, and sold them at fifteen shillings. Mr. Stephen Hall was the next occupant of that yard, which has been discontinued since 1800. In 1795, the price was four dollars.

A bed of clay was opened, in 1805, about forty rods east of the Wear Bridge, on land belonging to Spencer Bucknam, lying on the north side of the road. Only one kiln was burned there.

Fountain-yards. - These yards, which were near the " Fountain House," about eighty rods east of " Gravelly Bridge," were early in order of age. Messrs. William Tufts, Thomas Bradshaw, Hutchinson Tufts, Benjamin Tufts, and Sylvanus Blanchard were the manufacturers in that locality. These yards have been discontinued within our day.

"Sodom-yards." - As the familiar and improper sobriquet of Sodom was early given to that part of Medford which lies south of the river, the brick -yards, opened by the brothers Isaac, Jonathan, and Ebenezer Tufts, obtained the local name. After these gentlemen came Seth Tufts, who, with his son Seth, carried on the business till recently. These yards were situated near Middlesex Canal and the river, about south-south-east from Rock Hill.

The next in order of age were the yards opened in 1810 by Nathan Adams, Esq. They were situated each side of the old county road, leading from Medford over Winter Hill, and were about half a mile south of the " Great Bridge," in the small valley on the borders of Winter Brook. From the first kiln, Captain Adams built the house now standing on the right side of the road, twenty rods north of the kiln, as an advertisement ; and the bricks show the goodness of the clay and the skill of the workmen. These yards were next occupied by Mr. Babbitt, but have been discontinued for ten or fifteen years.

We presume that bricks have been made in many places now unknown to us ; for nearly the whole of Medford seems to have a deep stratum of pure clay under it.

The facility of procuring pine, chestnut, and hemlock -wood by the Middlesex Canal made this branch of business profitable ; but when steam navigation could bring bricks from Maine, where wood was half the price it bore here, the Medford trade was fatally curtailed. The bricks were carted to Boston at great cost, which gave the yards in Charlestown an advantage over ours. If they were taken in "lighters," by the river, this did not much lessen the expenses of transportation, but increased the risks of fracture. The high price of labor, of wood, and of cartage, rendered competition unwise ; and the manufacture of bricks has ceased.

Ship-Building

Governor Winthrop sailed from Cowes, in England, on Thursday, April 8, 1630. On Saturday, June 12, he reached Boston Bay ; and, on the 17th of that month, he makes the following record : " Went up Mistick River about six miles."

To this heroic and Christian adventurer belongs the honor of building the first vessel whose keel was laid in this part of the Western World ; and that vessel was built on the bank of Mystic River, and probably not far from the governor's house at " Ten Hills." There is a tradition that it was built on the north shore of the river, and therefore within the limits of Medford. The record concerning it is as follows : " July 4, 1631. The governor built a bark at Mistick, which was launched this day, and called ' The Blessing of the Bay.' "

There was something singularly prophetic in the fact that the first vessel built "at Mistick" should have so increased in price after five years of service. Our day has seen the prophecy fulfilled ; as it is no marvel now for a Medford ship to command a higher price after having had a fair trial at sea.

The second year (1632) witnessed another vessel built by Mr. Cradock on the bank of the Mystic, whose register was a hundred tons. In 1633, a ship of two hundred tons was built ; and another, named " Rebecca," tonnage unknown : both built by Mr. Cradock. Mr. William Wood, in 1633, writes : " Mr. Cradock is here at charges of building ships. The last year, one was upon the stocks of a hundred tons : that being finished, they are to build twice her burden." There is reason to believe that Mr. Cradock's ship-yard was that now occupied by Mr. J. T. Foster.

narrow and winding stream. The long passages made by these schooners prove to us, that their form and rig were not after the model and fashion of our day. One of them was " six weeks going to Virginea." The build and rigging, now so peculiarly American, have no superiors in the world ; and Medford has long stood among the leaders in improved naval architecture.

There is a tradition, probably founded on fact, that small sloops, called lighters, fit for the river navigation, were built in very early times at the " landing " near " Rock Hill," in West Medford. At a later day, one of these was built there by Mr. Rhodes, of Boston, and called the Mayflower, in honor of that vessel of one hundred and eighty tons which came across the Atlantic freighted to the full with religion and liberty, and which landed our Pilgrim Fathers on the Rock of Plymouth. The registers of this small craft are lost, if they ever existed ; as no trace of them can be found in the records of the Custom House at Boston, or in those of the Secretary of the Navy at Washington. This business of shipbuilding, beginning in 1631, and increasing annually for several years, required many men, who required houses and food within the town.

The origin of the name of schooners is thus given in the Massachusetts Historical Collection. Mr. Andrew Robinson, of Gloucester, Mass., built and rigged a small vessel having two masts. At the moment of launching, a bystander cried out, " Oh, how she scoons ! " Robinson instantly replied, " A schooner let her be." And thus they named her. The first bark built in Plymouth colony was built by private subscription ; and the paper bears date of January 24, 1641. It was about fifty tons, and cost two hundred pounds.

That modelling is the difficult point in ship-building, is proved by the fact that science has so slowly approached that form which will safely carry the largest burden in the shortest time. From Noah's ark, which was not built for sailing, to the last improved clipper of our day, the science of modelling has produced strange results. How far the ark was a lifepreserver of the arts of the antediluvians, we know not; but we cannot suppose it has done much more for ship-buildins: than the shell of the nautilus or the sternum of the duck. That some arts are lost, there can be no doubt. We cannot embalm as did the ancient Egyptians, nor lift as they did the stones of their pyramids ; we have not the petrifying cement with which Appius Claudius built the aqueducts of Rome, Sesostris those of Egypt, Semiramis those of Babylon, and Hezekiah those of Jerusalem ; but we think that no good art m ship-architecture has ever been lost ; and we believe that the Medford model of this year has never been surpassed. Ihe speed and safety of our ships are proofs of our remark.

The " Arbella," of four hundred tons, which brought Governor Winthrop, was sixty-five days on its passage, - -a period in which a Medford sailing ship now can cross the Atlantic four times.

"Oct. 7, 1641: General Court. - Whereas the country is now in hand with the building of ships, which is a business of great importance for the common good, and therefore suitable care is to be taken that it be well performed; it is therefore ordered, that when any ship is to be built within this jurisdiction, it shall be lawful tor the owners to appoint and put in some able man to survey the work and workmen from time to time, to see that it be performed and carried on according to the rules of their art."